.'v-;*;i'j:--.f!'.'t.;^c<;ri ■ 

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i^HIM^^K 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No, 



.Hii 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 



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A TREATISE ON HELL. 

Being: a Course of Lectures to 
Thinfcin§f Youngf People* ^ 

A EULOGY OF THE BIBLE, 

Showing; the Beauty of its 
Langfuagfe, 

C. A. MURRAY, M. D. 

a^ i^ z^ 



INTELLECTUAL ENJOYMENTS FAR SURPASS 
PHYSICAL. '* 



j^* f^* ^^ 



Van Etten, New York, 
1900. 



31016 






67172 



Library of Congpose 

Two Copies Received 
AUG 6 1900 

CsfjrrigM entry 
SECOND COPY. 

Dellverad to 

ORDER DIVISION, 

AUG 7 1900 



LKT not a death unwept, unhonor'd, be 
The melancholy fate allotted me ! 
But those who loved me living, when I die 
Still fondly keep some cherish 'd memory. 



-Solon. 






Press of tf|ft liallcu fSre^K^t 
19 an SEttfttt, ^* m* 



LC Control Number 




tjap96 027051 



''vVRErm 



To thinking young people, this little volume is 
respectfull}^ dedicated. It is designed as a study for 
the educated, a guide to theologians, a solace to the 
young and a comfort to the aged. A manual of self- 
education for the instruction of youth; an attempt to 
raise the interpretativon of {he Holy Scriptures to a 
higher plane of intelligence; to show that 

'' A glory gilds the sacred page, 
Majestic like the sun; 
It gives a light to ever}^ age, 
It gives but borrows none." 

This examination of tl)e philosophy of language 
in elucidation of the sacred word, it is believed, will 
be found by every reflecting person not only deeply 
interesting as a study, but also in the highest degree 
calculated to expand the views, enlighten tlie judg- 
ment, and improve the heart. The Bible, though the 
oldest of books, is confessedly ever new and delight- 
ful to those who have been taught to enter into its 
spirit. I trust I fully realize the r<^sponsibility I as- 
sume in undertaking this work, but I think it is a 
duty I owe to young people at this time of my life, 
when my eye is growing dim wdth age, ere I slumber 
in my grave forever. 

iv 



It allows tlie beautiful allegorical, figurative and 
nietapliorical ineaDing of the language of the Bible, 
that wonderful book of parables and metaphors, show- 
ing that it is perfect; that it is Avine, i e., divine 
truth; that it contains no inaccuracies; that it is 
divine!}' inspired and beautifully scientific tln^ongh- 
ont. It will be clearly seen by a careful study of 
this little work, that no person can have a clear un- 
derstanding of the true sense of the Bible unless he 
understands this (to us) new language in which it is 
written. Hence all tea(3hers, all clergymen who ])ro- 
fess to teacli the Bible without this knowledge are 
Wuul (juides^ and if the blind lead the })lind they both 
fall into ^he ditch. This volume is carefully compiled 
from the most highly educated authors. I therefore 
challenge the educated world to disprove one single 
definition herein given. In it I proclaim that I l)e- 
lieve in a perfect God^ maker and ruler of Heaven 
and earth; that I believe in His divine government; 
that I believe He has given me being, made me, cre- 
ated me, preserved me and redeemed me; that He 
directs my every action; that He guides my every 
footstep (Prov. 16:9); that He holds my breath in 
His hand. Therefore the Psalmist could truly say, 
"AVhither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend 
into heaven. Thou art there; it' I make my bed in hell, 
l)ehold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the 
morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right 
hand shall hold me." And again: '^All the inhab- 
itanth of the earth are reputed as nothing nnd He do- 

V 



etli according to His will in the army of Heaven and 
among the inhahitants of the earth, and none can 
stay His hand or say nnto Him what doest Thou?" 
(Dan. 4:85. ) "Yea, though T walk tlnY)ugh tlie val- 
ley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil; Thy 
rod and Thy staff then' comfort me." In proclaim- 
ing tliis doctrine I invoke the language of the uni- 
v(^rsal prayer: — 

"If I am riijjlit thy grac(^ impart 
Still in the right to stay ; 
If I am wrong, O ! toaeli mv lioart 
To find that better way " 

This, I trust, is a solace to tlie young, a comfort to 
tlie aged, and an anchor to the soul. 

We find by a careful study of the beautiful meta- 
l)horsof the Bible that they were written by men who 
understood this science far better than we who live in 
this enlightened age of the world, our great preten- 
sions to the contrary notwithstanding. We iind, too, 
their study will largely do away with the frauds and 
fetters of priestcraft, the errors and follies of supersti- 
tion. It guards simplicity from the lures of deceit 
and i)revents cunning from preying on credulity. It 
is hoped this little work, though very iniperfect, will 
fill a mucli needed and long-felt want in our national 
literature. We believe it to be a clear explanation of 
the language of the Bible and think it will largely do 
away with the conflict which has always existed be- 
tween science and religion. If it leads you to be in- 
dependent thinkers, to read, to study, to investigate 
for yourselves, its mission will be accomplished. 

vi 



I 



I trust I shall not be deemed irreverent because I 
treat serious subjects in a trifling manner. But I 
onl}^ treat the commonl}^ accepted mode of their 
teaching with the ridicule which I think it justly 
deserves, and 

"May He wlio clothes the lily 
And marks the sparrows' faU 
Protect and keep yon, dear ones, 
And guide 3^011 safe through all." 

is m}^ most earnest wdsh. 

C. A. M. 

Van Etten, N. Y., 1900. 



VU 



LECTURE L— EDUCATION. 

Ladies, Gentlemen and Sc^iiolaks: — 

Thanking you for this very cordijil reception, T am 
at the same time much pleased with this opportunity 
of addressing you upon this subject, " EducatioiL'' 
I consider it one of the most important subjects which 
can occupy the attention of the human mind. No 
person can do it justice. 

First, the meaning of tlie word: from the Latin e^ 
meaning out, and ditco^ to draw or lead; hence, a 
drawing out of the faculties of the mind; an educ- 
tion, or education of these faculties. It is ac(]uired 
only by hard study, by intense application. It im- 
phes an actual growth of brain, of all its faculties. 
If you educate the ph3'sical nature only, you make 
a giant in strengtli; but the animal nature will i)re- 
domiimte. If you educate the intellectual nature 
only, though strong in intellect, the sul)ject will be 
as prone to evil as to good, to vice as to virtue. Our 
prisons to-day are filled with victims of this mis- 
guided education. The only true education, there- 
fore, is the growth of the entire nature — the moral, 
the intellectual, and the physical. But the distinctive 
principle of education is the growth from vigorous 
exercise, which is not found in the flowery ],)aths of 
indolence. 

8 



Propei'ly considered, the apple tree is only an edu- 
cated a])})le seed, having di'awn its snhstance from 
the fertile soil, the dews and tlie rains. The mighty 
oak wliicli lasts a. tliousand years is only an educated 
acorn. The student, therefore, is a ])lant to be devel- 
oi)ed by growth. Education, therefore, in its largest 
sense, implies a growth; intellectual education, a 
growtl) of brain. But, according to God's eternal 
laws, tljere can be no healthy growth of brain witli- 
out good physical health. The brain must be nour- 
ished by pure blood to insure healthy growth. Every 
day^ you suffer from ill-health retards intellectual 
gnnvth. Could we have perfect health every day, we 
should grow to be physical and intellectual giants. 
Hence you will perceive the human mind, or human 
soul, has the magnitude of an empire. 

The difference between an educated and an uned- 
ucated person is ver}^ apparent. ''A human soul 
without education is like marble in a quarr}^ which 
shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of 
the polisher fetches out the colors, makes the surface 
shine, discovers and brings to light every ornamental 
cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of 
it." Echication, in like manner, when it works 
upon a noble n)ind, draws out to view every talent, 
virtue and perfection, Avhich, without such helps, 
would never be able to make their ap})earance. The 
figure is in the stone and only the sculptor finds it. 
The beauties of sculi)ture are very imperfectly under- 
stood by the common mass of mankind. Many cen- 
turies ago Michael Angelo, whose name has been 

9 



Iieralded down tlie ages a? tlie grandest sculptor o! 
his age or his time, was an apprentice in tlie liands 
of a master. For months and years he liad toiled and 
worked upon cla3\ The time came in his career for 
more serious performances, and the master one day 
placed hefore him a large, rough, unhewn hlock of 
inarble, and from it asked him to form the figure of 
a man. Pie toiled at his labor for yeai-s, and no eye 
was upon him. At last when his handiwork was coiu- 
l)lete, and he had formed and fashioned into supple 
nnd manual l)eauty Ids work, he called in the master 
to view it. Tiie curtain was drawn aside, and the 
3^oung student stood there trembling, aye, fearful, 
while the master looked and gazed upon what his boy 
had done. 

"Is there anything that you would criticize? Is 
there aught in it of blemish, or aught that mars it?" 

''Ah! no, m}^ boy. It is very beautiful; it lacks 
nothing bat the power of speech." 

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education 
is to a liuman soul. 

The educated person looks over all histor}^, looks 
back to the beginning of time and beholds the limits 
of the universe. The logic of Aristotle and Bacon 
determines the processes of his mind; the philosophy 
of Plato and Socrates is his wisdom; Phidias chisels 
his sculptured beauties; the highest intelligence is 
his inspiration. What the educated person knows 
he cannot be despoiled of. It is not the subject of 
larcenv. ' But it is obtained bv hard labor and self- 
denial. A majority of people are unwilling to eiulure 

10 



the long suffering and self-denial which makes ac- 
cumulation possible; so the student with his learn- 
ing. But when once obtained he carries its glory as 
safely in his soul as the secrets of Eternity in the 
bosom of Omniscience. Education, therefore, is a 
companion which no misfortune can suppress, no 
clime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despotism en- 
slave. At home, a friend; abroad, an introduction; 
in solitude, a solace; in society, an ornament. It 
lessens vice, it guards virtue; it gives at once a grace 
and government to genius. Without it, .what is man? 
A splendid slave! A reasoning savage, vacillating 
between the dignity of an intelligence derived from 
God and the degradation of brutal passion. 

I wish here to refute the idea that those who have 
not means to go through college and acquire expen- 
sive education must remain forever uneducated. Not 
so. A 5^outh who has been taught to observe the 
phenomena of nature, who knows the aspect of the 
starry heavens, who welcomes the procession of the 
flowers, who knows the birds by their song, who has 
observed the brilliant butterfly, who has watched the 
habits of the animals of the forest, who can com- 
mune with Nature, and has acquired habits of ob- 
servation and study, has laid the foundation of a 
noble education. This habit binds him into sympa- 
thy with his race. It repeats to him the lessons of 
sages and prophets. His memory is stored with 
proverbs, maxims and poems. He falls in love with 
Truth and partakes of her immortality and beauty. 
She illuminates the remotest star of his destiny. Un- 

11 



(Icrstaiul, I am not saying a word in disparagement 
of collegiate education. Far from it. I am Avell 
a\va,re that this education gives you coniidenc(^ in your 
ahiUties and makes you Ic^aders in conmiunity. Still, 
I (cannot helj) thinking of tlu^ remark of a college 
])rofessoi' in his addi'css to a graduating class, and 
s])eaking of a. certain collegiate, said: — 

" Y<^{iis aiHl yenrs he sjipiit hi college, 
Filling up bi8 liead witli kiiowi^Hlge ; 
Learning Hebrew, Latin, (Ireek. 
Growing wiser evcn-y week ; 
Eut one tiling he (iidirt h^ai'n, 
How liis daily bread to earn. 
Now his time he doth enipJoy 
Lookiiio- for a job, jxjorboy.'' 

But T fully believe the importance attached to the 
classics is due many timers to an ii'rational desire to 
parade wealth and the a])ility to waste time and 
means on useless things. And it is earnestly con- 
tended by some of our best men that too nnich atten- 
tion to dead languages and ancient cultures is incom- 
])atible with a [)roper e(iui[)ment of young peo})le for 
the duties and struggles of the present industrial civ- 
ilization. So I am trying to show you that the op- 
portunities of this great school ,. of comnion-sensi^ 
located here in Van Ettenville, free to all, without 
money and without price, are sim])ly huge. It opens 
up avenues of knoAvledge, discipline and culture, 
Avhereby all who will, can attain the higliest intel- 
lectual enjoyment. I trust 1 have shown yon, there- 
fore, that education is the princi})al thing. As the 

12 



Bible says, '^ Wisdom is the principal thing. There- 
fofe,, get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get un- 
derstanding. Length of days is in her right hand." 

Now, the question arises, How shall we obtain 
this much wished-for learning, this greatest desidera- 
tum on earth? For who can conjpute the cost of 
ignorance? How' shall we improve our minds or 
brains so as to reacli this exalted position? It is here 
that I differ with most people; and it is at this point 
that I wish to elucidate my views. 

I advise yon, first of all, stndy mathematics. 
This is the greatest and noblest of sciences. It is 
head and shoulders above all other sciences. Its 
study develops your reasoning powers. It is the only 
perfect science. The foundation of mathematical sci- 
ence is laid in its definitions — sliort, concise defini- 
tions. In teaching mathematics, therefore, we should, 
as far as possible, use mathematical language., i. 6., 
exact language. For instance, we never should say 
"equal,'* wlien we mean "equivalent." 

This science is peculiarly fitted to discipline the 
mind, to give the i)ower of clear and concise thought 
to pursue investigations. It would perhaps surprise 
you to ascertain how few people are capable of pur- 
suing investigations to definite conclusions. Plato 
say s : " Th e you tl i w h o are f u rn i sh ed w i th m ath e- 
matical knowledge are prompt and quick at all other 
sciences. ' ' It is not pretended that the study of math- 
ematics will lay before us historical facts, or store the 
fancy with brilliant images, or enable us to speak 
and write with rhetorical vi^or and elegance. Its 



i;^ 



) 



beneficial effects are shown in tlie improvement of 
the reasoning powers, tliat distingnishing character- 
istic wliicli elevates man abov(» tlie brute. Hence, 
dear boys and girls, I advise you to study mathe- 
matics ahnost to tlie exclusion of all other sciences. 
You should learn the nuilti plication ta!)le to 1) times 
20 so perfectly that you can divide by any nund)er 
of 20 or less by short division. Study mental mul- 
tiplication, till you can multiply by tln'ee or four iig- 
u res at a time; till you can add two-or three columns 
at a tinje, and in that way you will attain the high- 
est conce})ti()n of this noble science. I w^ould also 
reconnnend surveyiug to all young men having sulii- 
cient knowledge of arithmetic, algebra and geom- 
etry. Surveying beautifully unfolds the principles 
of mathematics. 

Now, in speaking of this word science, it does 
seem to me the definitions of this AV(»rd in our large 
dictionaries are vague and unsatisfactory. 1 hardly 
believe there is any perfect definition, of tins w^ord. 
for science, like the sun, Jyrujhtens every object on 
wdiich it shines. Besides, we are told that far in the 
East, near to Castalia, there bubbles a fountain of 
petrifying water in which the Muses are wont to (li[) 
such of their Howers as have been a])proved by their 
gods, which immediately become so hardened iu th(nr 
leaves they glitter and shine like rubies and dia- 
monds. After this proc^ess, time and the elements 
over them haxe no pomer. Such, dear friends, is sci- 
ence. Anything touched by tlie magic wand of sci- 
ence is immediately transformed into rubies and dia- 

14 



monds-. Science is contemplated with unalloyed 
satisfaction by all its votaries, for it has asserted as 
one of its chief doctrines the rio;ht of the human 
mind to judge for itself — a doctrine so unspeakably 
precious as to make no account of the inconveniences 
which arise in its practical application. Like the 
shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 

Allow me, ' therefore, to give you a definition of 
this word which, although far from perfect, is the best 
I can give. Science is knowledge reduced to order, 
so as to beeasil3M*emembered, readily referred to and 
advantageously applied. Having shown you that 
mathematics is the first of all sciences, allow one or 
two examples: A little boy once lived in this coun- 
tiT, having no better opportunities than these boys 
here before me; but he was ambitious to excel. He 
learned the multiplication table when very young. 
He learned to cipher and he kept on ciphering, and 
as he grew he developed a great big head for figures 
and beat everybody in ciphering. He finally ciphered 
out the Standard Oil Company, the most scientific 
company ever known in this or any country. It had 
its origin in the fertile, mathematical brain of John 
D. Rockefeller and w^as managed by cold, cruel, re- 
lentless science. So successful had this company be- 
come, the}^ soon had the control of the entire oil out- 
put of this country, and the consequence was, every 
member of this company soon became immensely 
rich. 

More millionaires to-day live in the city of Cleve- 
land than in any other city of its size in the world, 

15 



and the reason is they are members of the Standard 
Oil Company. One member of this company sud- 
denly found himself the possessor of $5,000,000, and 
he said to himself, '^ This is more money than I ever 
expected to see, much less to possess; and I don't 
want any more. ' ' So he withdrew from the company 
and is to-day living on the income of his millions. 
No so with Mr. Rockefeller. He had the head and 
brain to manage a great many millions, and he went 
on managing and making money until, at the age of 
36 years, he found himself the possessor of $36,- 
000,000 — a sum so vast you could scarcely count in 
a short lifetime. Ncr was this sufficient. He kept 
on speculating and making money until to-day his 
wealth is estimated anywhere from $150,000,000 to 
$300,000,000. Let me here say, a million, mathe- 
matically considered, is an incomprehensible num- 
ber. No person can form a correct mental idea of a 
million. 

Take another example — Jay Gould. He early 
learned mathematics and became very expert in fig- 
ures. He became a practical surveyor, made maps 
of many counties; afterwards dealt in railroad stocks. 
He made money in every way and became the great- 
est money-getter in the world. The Old World or 
the New furnishes no parallel. So great was his 
wealth he was actually considered at one time a part 
of this Government. The climax of his scientific 
calculations was reached on the famous Black Friday, 
when, with James Fisk, he wrecked some of the 
finest fortunes in New York City by '"cornering 

16 






i^old, and would have ruined many more liad not 
President Grant comn:ienced selling gold from the 
United States Treasury. So incensed was.Fisk at 
this act of President Grant he threatened to pull his 
nose l)ut feared the populace. So Fisk and Gould 
had to content themselves that day hy making only 
$5,000,000. Understand, however, I do not set these 
men up as examples to be imitated, but simply to 
show the power of a mathematical brain. 

Now, in these days of electricity, of steam, of X- 
rays, street railways, telegraphs, and communication 
between nations which makes all the Avorld neigh- 
bors, it is not necessary for me to tell you that science 
rules the world. You all know that. Having shown 
you that mathematics is the most important science, 
I come now to show you that language is, in my esti- 
mation, the science next in importance in the great 
scale of sciences Avhich.you should carefully study 
to obtain the highest education. Language is sim- 
pl}^ the means of communication between mortals. 
Without language this earth would be a desert, but 
with it we have all the charms jf cr/uversation. In 
fact, our greatest happiness consists in communicating 
our thoughts to each other, and the more perfect our 
knowledge of this science, the more perfec^t our hap- 
piness. Fine language not only interests you in the 
subject-matter related, but it enlists you and carries 
you along with its native felicity and eloquence of 
expression. There is scarcely an instance of any n^an 
who has risen to eminence but has done so by his elo- 



1 



qriGDce, his command of language, by his speaking 
ability. Remember, your education, your taste, your 
refinement, the polish of your mannei's, is shown 
more by 3^our language, your conversation, by the 
beauty of your diction, than in all other ways com- 
bined. 

Language, therefore, I consider second in import- 
ance in the great scale of sciences. Now, the question 
arises, How shall we learn this language; how shall 
we perfect ourselves in the use of language? The 
only way to learn this science is to commence using 
language, practice talking, reading aloud, studying, 
committing to memory, conversing. Learn to tell 
stories — a great acconiplishment ; use language. 
Learn to be a fluent speaker, by practice; and while 
doing this don't forget, I tell you, the human tongue 
is the only edged tool which grows shari)er by con- 
stant use. 

Now, the first requisite in this ordeal is to educate 
and train that great vehicle of language, the human 
voice, and as I a})proach this subject I consider that 
1 approach a very important subject. The human 
voice is the finest musical instrument ever invented. 
To cultivate this voice should be the highest pride of 
every, individual. 

Who has not sometime come under the charm of 
a clear, richly modulated voice, and wdio has not felt 
dismayed as some fair-faced w^oman has opened her 
mouth and gave utterance to a discordant flow^ of 
speech. Empress Eugenie had a fine voice. All were 
charmed who came within its infiuence. It was the 

18 



.ureat secret of hev power. She ruled tlie fashions of 
tlie world inany years, and remember, even 

"Satan hath not in all liis (luiver's clioico 
All arrow for tlu^ lieart like a sweet voice." 

rndouhtedly, some voices po-sess natni'al sweetness, 
))Ut th(M'e is no voice wliich may not be cultivated 
and educated into ])ositive charm by insti'uction, i'(^- 
(juiring n.o more ])ra(;tice than is commonly l)estowed 
on musi(^scal(v>. I am an advocate of the stage and 
])latfoi'm as educators. Let children often see what 
the lunnan voice is ca])able of in the way of power 
and (expression. Thc^ (MJucation and cultivation of the 
voice does mucli for us physically. The effort to 
bi-ing out chest tones ex[)ands the lungs, giving them 
healthful activity. Deniosthenes had an actual im- 
])ediment in his s})ee(di, and yet became the greatest 
(Jrecian orator. Djn't forget, therefore, bo3\s and 
girls, I sa,y to you a pleasant voice is a })assport to 
good society in all })laces, under all circumstances. 
Don't forget, I say to you a pleasant voice is a per- 
])etual letter of reconnnendation, go where you will. 
Don't forget, I say to you a, ])leasant voice with gen- 
teel maimers will make your fortune. Don't forget 
I (juote to you that l)eautiful ])assage of scripture, 
''A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver.*' Then cultivate this precious voice. Let 
not a day pass in which you do not do something to 
cultivate this voice. Never allow a word to escape 
your lips which is not distinctly uttered. I \vell rec- 
ollect the first Teachers' Institute ever held in this 

19 



t'ouiitiy, at Itliaea, in 1844, durini*' tlie faivious presi- 
dential campaign between Folic and Clay. One of the 
iinest political speakers I ever listened to spoke in the 
hall the evening before the Institute. We had at 
that Institute the finest teachers in the State, and 
they remarked the next day upon the fine voice of 
that speaker, and said though not loud, the farthest 
corners of that large hall were filled with his voice, 
and showed liow it was done, viz. : by swelling the 
vowel sounds, and showed his voice liad been highly 
cultivated. 

The roar of some of our domestic animals is in- 
dicative of the dangerous power lurking l)eneath it. 
The human voice, also, is indicative of power, of 
character, of strength, and also indicative of dis- 
ease. Tliat famous Indian cliieftain, Tecumseh, had 
a fine erect cliest as large as a barrel. His lungs were 
as large as could be stowed in it and he had a voice 
so powerful he could pronounce words so as to be 
heard distinctly one mile. Think of the power of 
that voice in battle, cheering liis Indian braves on to 
victor3\ Notice Chanticleer, how shrilly he crows 
and how much he crows. Wliy is it? Simply be- 
cause Nature tells him this is tlie way to perfect his 
voice, to give health and strength to his lungs. When 
successful in battle he crows lustily. Notice the 
nightingale and whip-poor-will — Nature's specimens 
of fine voices. Again: Notir^e two lions in their na- 
tive jungle. They come up on oi)posite sides of the 
same pond to drink, in full view of each other. Now 
a fight between these animals is tei-rific. It generally 

20 



means deatli to one or the other, as tlie3v seldom.' 
yield. So the}^ dread to enter the contest; so one 
tries his voice and the other tries his, to match it. 
The}' well know the one having* the more powerful 
voice, the one that can shake the earth the most ter- 
ribly with his powerfnl ro^r, is the better animal, 
and the other slinks away to the depths, of the forest 
to avoid his enemy. 0! ^^nltivate, then, this precious 
voice. Learn language; learn ^ to tell stories/ -Some- 
times we liave school exhibitions, church entertain- 
ments. The clear voices, those that are distinctly 
understood without effort on the part of the hearer, 
bear the palm in allr^tases. What is the great fault 
with sonie of the popular speakers of the day? Their 
speech is not distinct, a word is lost occasionally 
which destroys the sense;, but tlie great reason why 
you should learn language is on account of the \\u- 
bounded power of eloquence. ; - 

To be aiine orator is tlie highesty position any man 
on this earth can occupy. Behold Demosthenes, elec- 
trifying throngs till they seize tlieir arms and wildly 
exclaim, '//Lead us against Philip." Behold Cict^ro 
wielding tlie most poNverful sceptre on eartli by his 
flowing anti. reffective e]o(|uence. Behold Patrick 
Plenry enchanting and arousing his fellow-ditizeils 
until they uslier in that i^nn^ortal declaration of hu* 
man fi-eetlom Avhich sceins destined to undermine 
every throne and dynasty on eartli. 

The object of ekxpience is to persuade, to please^ 
to instructs; to scatter the clouds of ignorance from 
the atmospheroof reason. Liki^ a resistk^ss torrent, 

21 



it breaks down ovoiy ()l)staele. An Alexander or a 
Ca\sar could eoiKjuer a world; but to overcome the 
passions, to subdue the will, can l)e effected only by 
the all-powerful charm of eni'apturing eloquence. 1 
cannot, therefore, too emphatically advise you to 
learn lunguiuje. Having shown you, therefore, that 
in onhn- to be ti'uly great, to enable you to pass 
through life upon the topmost round of the ladder of 
fame, to pass through life upon th(^ Ingest })lane 
of enlightened citizenshi}), you should study, first, 
mathematics, to develop your reasoning powers, to 
enlarge your mental scope; secondly, studs^ language, 
to develop your practical intellect, your obsei'viiig 
])owers, and al)ove all, train your voices that they 
may l)e rich and melodious. I advise you, there- 
fore, to study mathematics and language almost to 
the exclusion of all other sciences. Not that other 
sciences are not iujportant, but that mathematics and 
language are muc^h more so. I advise you, therefore, 
to let other sciences almost entire!}^ alone till you ai'e 
adepts in thes(\ Tlierefore never waste the precious 
moments of your youth in studying history. 

History is to-day a less im[)ortant entity than for- 
merly because we know it is fi-equently untrue. The 
simplest transaction may occur in our village and no 
two spectators can tell it alike. But a short time ago 
histor}^ was handed down to us as ''recorded truth,'' 
but lately we have had some object-lessons in regai'd 
to histoiical narrative. No two reporters on the 
iield of battle can record it alike, and at the close of 
hostilities wi^ find the widest divergence of views as 

99 



to wliat really oecui'recl. Ancient history may there- 
fore he defined as a confused juinhleof opinions dis- 
torted to suit special pleaders, then re-jumhled and 
mixed, confused and re-distorted, according to the 
Avhim of each new writer. Its rehalnlity, therefore, 
njay well ))e douhted, and we see the force of the oft- 
quoted (cynical remark, ''History is fiction agreed 
upon." 

.Vny educated ])erson can tell you in a few mo- 
ments all you can learn from history, viz. : the great 
fact that man has always heen struggling with his 
own dire passions. Though history may he impor- 
tant, it won't help you get a living. Wlrat money 
you make in this world, he it little or much, you will 
make through your mathematical knowledge; so that 
though you may not he a Jay (Jould or a Rockefeller, 
come as near them as you can. Go tliou and do 
likewise. Also, never waste tlie precious moments 
of your youth in studying the details of geography. 
True, the motions of the earth, the circles, the zones, 
the ecliptic, the different lengths of days and nights, 
the cause of summer and winter, i. ^. , the mathemctt- 
ical part of geograpliy you shoidd study; hut all 
else you can learn from a map much easier in after 
life. 

The state authorities ohlige the teacher to ])ass an 
examination in ten or fifteeu sciences, hut had I the 
power, the adept in mathematics and language (mind, 
the adept^ 1 say,) would get a certificate in all cases, 
because an adept knowledge of these sciences pre- 
supposes a fair knowledge of all other sciences. The 

23 



])les.sed Bil)le siiys: 'SSoek ye first the kingdom of 
(iod and His riglUeousness and all tliese things shall 
l)e added unto you"; and I say, seek ye first a per- 
fect knowledge of mathematics and language and all 
other sciences will be easily added unto you. After 
you are adepts in mathematics and language, then 
study other sciences. I give this opinion in spite of 
the opinions of ]>oards of Education, Superintend- 
ents of Public Instruction and most other educators. 
Having shown you that education is a growth 
from vigorous exercise of the l)rain, I now show you 
that physical education is equally important and is 
also a-sfrowth from vi2:orous (exercise. In the mad 
rush for intellectual education the physical should 
never be neglected, for 

"Of wliat avail to tame the liij^litning's S|)ee<l, 
TociiieU the wave;- and hold the winds in leash, 
If health no more be la]>or's meed, 
If love be smothered, honor spurned, 
And beaiit}^ crushed in Mammon's blind stampede.'' 

AVe find people well educated ])hysically have 
hard muscles, hard brains and retentive memories. 
Such a brain removed from the skull and placed upon 
a plate would hold its shape and show its hardness. 
An impression made upon such a l)rain would be 
lasting, almost as permanent as if engraved upon 
steel. Such people are fitted to enjoy lite. They 
know why they are on earth and delight in exertion; 
but people of the opposite class, having soft muscles 
and soft brains, retain but little and enjoy but littl(\ 
Their brains, removed from tlu^ skull and placed 

1^4 



upon a plate, would flatten out like hot mush. Henee 
the ])oet sa3^s: — 

"I loathe, abhor, detest. 
The mortal made 
Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast 
No permanent foundation can be laid." 

The statistics of Russia show that one-half of their 
nohility, classically educated, sink into disease from 
over-study, one-fourth sink into fatal consumption, 
and one-fourth into fatal nervous diseases, so that 
scarcely one-half the highly educated ever hecome 
useful citizens; and with these exaniples constantly 
hefore them, many others in their own country, and 
in ours, follow the same example and die in the same 
ditch. Surely, he that heing often reproved, and 
hardeneth Ins neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and 
that without remedy. 

A most excellent physician of New York City 
says: — 

'^ Ladies are most npt to fall into this delusion^ 
and the result is deplorable. Debility all over, loss 
of spirits, loss of bloom on their cheeks. The eye 
l(^ses its brightness imd health l)ecomes impossil)le. 
English ladies usually ei^joy excellent health. Tlie 
very greatness of Kngland is intimately connected 
Avith the out- door exercise of their females. In this 
(M)untry many ladies exercise and go out in summer 
and in the l)eautiful weather of autumn, which in this 
ccnmtry is unsurpassed by any, and so gather a few 
roses on their chec^ks; ))ut the cold weather usually 
drives then] in and they go out veiy little till spring. 
No health can be supported in this way. Exercise 

2o 



shoukl 1)0 taken every ckiy to the point of fatigue, 
(iardening and tending flowem is an engaging exer- 
eise. Jumping tlie rope and rowing are excellent, 
but dancing is the king and queen of in-door exercise 
— suitable^to all classes, all ages, both sexes. Dancing 
to cheerful music gives a circulation to the blood un- 
equalled. I do not speak of it as a dissipation but 
as an exhilarating exercise. I have known one ot 
tlie worst cases of consumption I ever knew cured by 
dancing alone, practiced daily, for luany months.' 
The cure was permanent and complete. 

'' It is deplorable that dancing and amusements 
of nearly air kinds should have fallen under the ban 
of the clergy, and should be preached against as sin- 
ful. It is more than doubtful whether the morals of 
mankind ar^benelited by forbidding all amusements, 
and it is moi§^t?.€ertain the health of thousands is sac- 
rificed by it. Wlio are those that sink earliest into 
consumption among ladies? Allow me to say, it is 
those who take least exercise and refrain from all 
amusen]ients,-^-who, at school, at church, at home, 
are marked as models; whose looks artv demure^ whose 
walk is slow, and whose conversation is always on 
serious su1)jects.- — who most apply themselves to se- 
vere studies, and protracted application in acquiring 
knowledge and educ^ation. Buoyancy of spirits, even 
to mirth and levity, is infinitely better for health. 
There is nothing better for the lungs than deep^ fre- 
quent, hearty laughter, and the laugh should never 
be suppressed unless forbidden by circumstances. 

'^ Nb-greater truth was ever uttei'ed, than tliat — - 

2G 



I 



Roligioii nevor was designed 



To make our pleasures less." 
Neitlier in its letter nor spirit does our happy and 
l)l63ssed religion — the rehgion of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, to whom be eternal praise and obedi- 
ence — anywhere forbid pure, rational pleasures and 
gratification. ' Use the tilings of this world as not 
abusing them,' is the injunction of the Apostle, and 
is a complete summary of all the teaching of the 
whole Bible upon this subject. 

"In 1837, I had the honor of attending a ball in 
the French capital, given under the patronage of the 
Duchess of RoxV>urgh. About 3,500 ladies and gen- 
tlemen were present, comprising the most distin- 
guished English and French nobility then in Paris. 
Many distinguished English and French officers, of 
the highest grades. Some ladies wore ornaments to 
the value of one hundred tliousand dollars. Two sons 
of Louis l^hilippe Avere present. Here I had an op- 
]jortunity of noticing and verifying all I have before 
said of the connection of symmetry, health and 
beautv. Ladies of sixty hardlv lookino- thirtv; sen- 

»/ iJ %i CD %/ J CD 

tlen^en, seventy, and scarcely seeming forty. Not a 
round-shouldered Euro])ean in this assemblage; no 
lack-luvstre eyes; no pale-sunken cheeks; no halting 
gaits; no balancing, first on one foot, then on tlie 
otlier. Nearly all the ladies wore the top of tlie chest 
bare, yet no scarred bosoms were seen; no scraggy 
collar-bones stood out over the chest, but all was sym- 
metry and grace, presenting the human machine in 
its fullest symmetry and highest elegance, and perfect 

97 



liealth. Each lady, 1)eBides artificial oi'nniucnts, pi'c- 
sented in her aiiiniated countenance three brilliants, 
— brilliant eyes, brilliant teeth, and brilliant com- 
plexion." 

There is also a third science which you sliould 
study carefully, in order to finish your education, to 
create confidence in your abilities, to place the cap- 
stone of perfection on your education, and it is here 
that I differ with most teachers. It is here that I 
expect to 1)0 criticised, even ridiculed; for many in- 
telligent peoi)le to-day deny that this is a science at 
all. I shall give my opinion, however, fearlessly, 
because 'it is honest. You have often heard it said, 
"The proper study of mankind is man "; that the 
most successful men on earth are those that have 
most successfully studied human nature — those that 
have the greatest power of knowing mankind. Such 
people read your inmost soul. You cannot deceive 
them. 

How shall Ave accomplisli this great desideratum? 
How shall we learn to know mankind? 1 reply, un- 
hesitatingly, b}^ studying that great science of the 
human brain — phrenology. This science comprises 
the whole science of man from the (U'own of his head 
to the sole of his foot. It shows you that the amount 
of brain a man carries, other things being equal, is 
the measure of his power. It shows you not only 
the amount of brain, but the (juality of that brain. 
It makes i)lain to you how one man differs from an- 
other, and tells you Avh}^ they differ. I state this 
without fear of hazarding my })rofessional reputation, 

28 



which I prize above everything else. Remember, man 
looks upon the outward appearance, but the Lord 
looketh upon the heart. Phrenology will enable you 
to tear away the masks worn b}^ individuals and look, 
almost God-like, upon the naked heart. 

My love of phrenology doubtless increased my 
taste for the study of medicine, and in my collegiate 
course I carefully dissected many brains. I carefully 
examined the hemispheres and ventricles of the brain; 
the cerebrum and cerebellum; the corpora quadri- 
gemina and the pineal gland. I carefully examined 
the depth of the convolutions — a very fine point in 
phrenology. I observed the difference between the 
white and gray matter, which gray matter is believed 
to be the seat of intelligence. I am Avell aware of the 
difficulties in the way of practical phrenolog}^, such 
as the frontal sinus, the mastoid process, and the 
small amount of brain which makes differences in 
ability and disposition. These have caused this sci- 
ence to be neglected. Notwithstanding these, its gen- 
eral principles and its claims to a science are, in my 
opinion, unimpaired. 

Therefore I form my estimate of every person I 
meet from a phrenological standpoint. If a public 
man — a stranger — comes among us, I intuitively, 
with my measuring eye, take the dimensions of his 
brain. If I find he has brains, I respect him accord- 
ingly — and look out for him too. If he has not, I 
consider him beneath my notice. So, be he Egyptian, 
African, Dutchman, Frenchman, Hottentot or Bul- 
garian, I need never be deceived. He carries the in- 

29 



dex of his soul in his phrenological developments, 
and we should know how to read them. 

Notice the brain of the mighty Webster, weighing 
64 ounces, while the average brain weighs 50 or 52 
ounces. Notice Cuvier, the great French naturalist, 
whose brain also weighed 64 ounces, and think of 
the vast amount of mental labor such a brain could 
accomplish. I believe Bismarck had as fine a brain 
as any man. He was tall and majestic in appearance 
and a commanding figure in any company. ''The 
man of blood and iron." His mighty brain, how- 
ever, made him imperious. He believed in '' the di- 
vine right of kings." Is it necessary, therefore, in 
view of these facts, to state to you that the amount 
of brain a man has, other things being equal, is the 
measure of his power? Can you observe the differ- 
ence in the shape of people's heads and still doubt 
the truths of phrenology? It seems impossible. 

I tried to show you at the commencement of this 
discourse that the main principle of education is a 
growth. I come now to show you, if you pursue 
those studies which develop certain portions of the 
brain, those portions will increase in size, will be- 
come perceptibly larger when measured by tape, and 
I think this statement is borne out by facts and shows 
the power of education. This bony skull is the ser- 
vant of the brain and accommodates itself to its 
growth, especially in young people. Having shown 
you, therefore, that to be truly great you should learn 
language by almost constant use of language; yet, 
let me say to you the greatest man that ever lived in 

30 



this beautiful village; the greatest man that ever lived 
in tliis town — yes, the greatest man that ever lived 
in this county or State was — who do you suppose? 
Wliat do you supi)ose his nanie was? Let me tell 
you: He was the man that knew when to hold his 
tongue. So you will ])erceive tliough speech is gen- 
erally silver, silence is sometimes golden. So you 
Avill see if you are an adept in niathematics and an 
ade})t in language, so that you always know when to 
speak and wliat to say, and are possessed of that 
magic art of knowing when to be silent; and have 
studied that great science of the human brain so that 
you can read your fellow-man, you are eminently 
qualified to fill the highest positions in life; a^ou are 
qualified to stand before kings. Tliis education, there- 
fore, this growth of brain, gives the finest play to tlie 
imagination and to all the faculties of the human 
mind. 

Imagination files in an instant of time to sunny 
Italy. It there luxuriates in that beautiful scenery. 
It beliolds those delightful landscapes. It climl)S 
the heiglits of Vesuvius. It peers down into that aw- 
ful crater. It plunges into that burning lava. It 
explores every crook and craiuiy in that mighty vor- 
t(^x which Talmage has so aptly described as "the 
chinmey of liell.'' It then descends and views St. 
Peter's at Rome — the mightiest and most beautiful 
church on earth; that beautiful cathedral with its 
sjjacious grounds, magnificent porches and beautiful 
environments. It tlien fii(^s to Northern Greenland, 
that f\'i)7A)u shore, and views those diminutive^ natives 

81 



clad in furs and skins, drinking whale oil by the(|nni-t 
to "keep U]) that coml)Ustion necessary to maintain 
the warmth of their bodies. It then tlies ]^erhaps to 
California, that golden shore, and views those won- 
derful ])lacers of gold; that country of Avheat, where 
they raise scarcely anything but wheat. It views 
those mighty trees of California. It passes through 
the Yosemite Valley and views those mighty over- 
hanging rocks more than a mile in height. Talk 
about tlie monument of Sir Walter Scott, oOO feet 
high — a mere pygmy. Who can view these mighty 
natural monuments without feeling his soul lifted 
from Nature up to Nature's God? Who is not ready 
to exclaim, ''Thou, () God, hast been our hal)itation 
in all generations, before the moimtains were brought 
forth, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou ai*t 
God." 

Behold those mighty natural monuments rearing 
their heads so high above tlie clouds it seems the 
motion of the earth would hurl them from their foun- 
dations. But it doesn't; and they remain ages after 
ages, monuments to the amazing wisdom and mercy 
of the God that made them, that perfect (Jod, that 
perfect God tliat I worshi]). 

It then flies to Patagonia, tliat rugged shore, and 
views those stalwart natives, seven, and, some trav- 
elers say, seven and one-lialf feet high. Imagine a 
man of tliat height, duly pi-o[)ortioned. We would 
have a man that we could, without any fear of losing 
self-respect, look up to. 

It then visits St. Helena and views the tond) of 



82 



Napoleon, and reflects upon the mighty historic rec- 
ord connected therewith, and then launches upon the 
broad ocean and realizes the inspiring strains of the 
poet: — 

" Koll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean — roll ! 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; 
Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 
Stops with the shore; — upon thy v\atery plain 
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain 
A shadow of man's ravage save his own, 
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, 
He sinks into thy depth with bubbling groan, 
Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffihed, and unknown." 

It then flies to Paris, that most beautiful city on 
earth, where they have forty kinds of soup to one kind 
of religion; where science prevails; the home of the 
mighty Cuvier, with a brain weighing 64 ounces. It 
views those boulevards, beautiful environments, and 
vine-covered mountains of France. 

Imagination views all these scenes in far less time 
than I have taken to tell it to you and gets back home 
safe and sound without any wear or tear of its con- 
stitution. Glorious faculty! Happy shall he be who 
first tells us how to educate this faculty. You will 
perceive, therefore, educated people with brilliant 
imaginations live two or three lives, while slow-going 
coaches, like you and I, live one. They have sources 
of information of which we know nothing. This en- 
tire earth is constantly spread out before them in one 
vast panorama, and to view any place they have only 
to look out upon the plane of their imagination and 
behold it. 

33 



And now, dear boys and girls, I don't believe 
there is a village in this wide world no larger than 
this with more bright eyes, more intelligent fore- 
heads, than this beautiful village of Van Ettenville. 
How often I have noticed this at our young people's 
gatherings. I love to address your bright eyes, your 
intelligent foreheads; I love to address your reason- 
ing powers and I am proud of you. I am proud to 
call you the sons and daughters of my country. 

Having shown you, therefore, that according to 
scripture, science, knowledge, education, wisdom is 
the principal thing, I show you now that the prophet 
Daniel, in speaking of that notable day of the Lord, 
says: '^Then they that be ^oise shall shine as the 
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many 
to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.'' I 
could show you that the Bible in many other places 
inculcates the improvement of the mind, the getting 
of wisdom. 

I come now to show you that this human mind 
or soul, the royal inhabitant of this brain, is immor- 
tal. I am pleased that I believe in the immortality 
of the soul; that I believe the soul is never-dying; 
that if a man die he shall live again; that I have 
reasons outside the common evidences of Christianity 
for believing the soul to be immortal. I now show^ 
you that this inscrutable being, the human soul, is 
the life of the brain; that the eye does not see, the 
ear does not hear. All these external senses are sim- 
ply the means of communication between this soul 
and the external world. That these expressions of 

34 



hate, fear, revenge, frienclsliip and love, so familiar 
to lis all, are but tlie iiiaiiifestations of this soul; 
that the IkxIv shines because the soul is seen; that 
the, soul (luring our lifetime inhabits this brain, is 
imprisoned within this bou}^ skull. Imprisoned now, 
it will one day break these prison bars and wing its 
wav to immortalitv. 



a5 



LECTURE II. — CHANGING WATER 
INTO WINE. 

Ladies, Gentlemen, Scholars: — 

I thank you for this magnificent reception. lam 
pleased with this audience. I am pleased with this 
opportunity of addressing you upon this important 
subject, ''Changing Water Into Wine." In doing 
this I crave your earnest attention, as I hope to be 
able to furnish you food for thought, and I wish not 
to appeal to your feelings, your prejudices or your 
passions; I wish to address your reasoning powers. 
I have shown you, on a former occasion, when speak- 
ing upon the subject of ^' Education," that '' knowl- 
edge is power"; that science, knowledge, education, 
wisdom, is the principal thing; therefore, get wis- 
dom, and with all thy getting get understanding. 
Length of days is in her right hand. 

I show^ed you, also, that science is knowledge re- 
duced to order, so as to be easily remembered, readily 
referred to, and advantageously applied. 

I showed you, also, that, in my opinion, the sci- 
ence of mathematics is the highest and noblest of 
sciences; that its study develops your reasoning pow- 
ers, that distinguishing characteristic which elevates 
man above the brute; that it gives j^ou the power of 
clear and concise thought. 

36 



I showed you, also, that the science of language, 
in my opinion, is next in importance in the great 
scale of sciences which yon should study carefully to 
obtain the highest education. The study of this sci- 
ence develops your practical intellect and largely 
stimulates all the other faculties. This faculty is 
largely developed in nearly all persons who have risen 
to eminence. 

I am here to-night 1o show you what I consider 
to be the beauties of language; the origin of some of 
our familiar words, the universal law of language; to 
show you that our language is drawn quite largely 
from ancient mythology. Mythology, from the word 
' ^ myth, ' ' meaning fable, is a system of fabulous opin- 
ions respecting the deities which the heathen nations 
supposed to preside over the world. They had twelve 
primary gods and goddesses: — 

Jupiter — God of Heaven. 

Pluto — God of the Infernal Regions. 

Neptune — God of the Sea. 

Ceres — Goddess of the Harvest. 

Apollo — God of Beauty and Music. 

Diana — Goddess of the Chase. 

Vulcan — the Forger or Blacksmith. 

Minerva — Goddess of Wisdom. 

Mars— God of War. 

Venus — Goddess of Love and Beauty. 

Mercury — God of Eloquence and patron of Ora- 
tors, Merchants, Thieves and Robbers. 

Vesta — Goddess of the Domestic Household. 

Besides these there were many lesser gods, such 

37 



as Bacchus, the god of lust and wine and patron of 
drunkenness and debauchery; Cupid, god of Love, 
and many others. The Muses presided over music 
and poetry. If a person is poeti^^al, we say he is in- 
spired by the Muse. The Graces personified splen- 
dor, joy, and pleasure. The Fates were goddesses 
who presided over our destiny. 

To show that our language is drawn somewhat 
from mythology. We will notice some of these gods 
separately. In my youth I read a story in which, at 
one point, the hero received a letter from a lady to 
post or mail, but being somewhat scheming he tore 
up the letter, and committed the pieces to Neptune, 
the god of the sea, meaning he threw them into the 
sea. Next Pluto, god of hell. If I wished to con- 
sign anyone to hell^ I might soften the expression by 
saying I wished him in the regions of Pluto. Ceres, 
goddess of the harvest; all grains are called cereals 
from this goddess. Vulcan, the blacksmith; to get 
your w^agon vulcanized simply means to get it ironed; 
we speak of vulcanized rubber — hardened rubber. 
Mars, god of war; we speak of martial array, mean- 
ing w^arlike. Mercury, god of thieves. On one occa- 
sion he took with him a tenderfoot, named Index, to 
steal some cattle. They stole the cattle and had hid- 
den them securely. AVhen the owner appeared and 
inquired if they had seen the lost cattle. Mercury said 
of course they had not, but Index, pitying him for 
the loss of his cattle, pointed to their hiding place.. 
Mercury saw him pointing but said nothing. The 
owner did not understand, and went his way; as soon 

38 



as gone, Mercury assaulted Index and would have de- 
stroyed him, but finally changed him to a guide-post 
and set him up on the corner of the street, to point 
the way to travelers, so that he might be forever point- 
ing; so in our language an index is anything that 
points. We speak of the index finger — the finger that 
points. The index in your books points to the page 
of every subject, so this word has been thoroughly 
incorporated into our language, and all because Index 
pointed to the hiding-place of Mercury's stolen cattle. 

I have thus given you the merest outline of my- 
thology, but enough to show the origin of some of 
our words and give you a taste to learn more. I 
show you, also, that words are rapidly changing in 
meaning. Many words to-day do not mean the same 
they did in my youth. If the best speakers and 
writers use words in a different sense from their com- 
monly accepted meaning, the signification of those 
words is changed. 

Hence the universal law of language is the estab- 
lished practice of the best speakers and writers. The 
meaning of many words in the Bible is not the same 
now as in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
But I come now to show you the most important dis- 
tinction in our language, which is that it is of two 
kinds, literal and metaphorical; and the nicest dis- 
crimination is necessary many times to distinguish 
between the two. This lack of discrimination I be- 
lieve to be the greatest source of error in our under- 
standing of the scriptures; many learned divines in- 
terpreting that which is metaphorical as literal. This 

39 



distinction, therefore, should be naost carefully stud- 
ied and clearly understood. For example: If T say 
^'A teamster in laboring broke his chain," I state a 
plain, literal fact of no great importance; but if I 
say ''A person rushed into a student's or an editor's 
sanctum, disturbed his meditations and broke his 
chain of thought," I utter a metaphor. So you see 
there is quite a difference between natural and meta- 
phorical chains. Pope says: — 

" From Nature's chain whichever link you strike, 
Tenth or ten-thousandth, breaks the chain aUke." 

So you should bear in mind the difference between 
literal and metaphorical chains. If I should say a 
certain man is like a pillar of the state, I utter a sim- 
ile; but if I say "He is a pillar of the state," I 
utter a metaphor. Therefore a metaphof is a short 
similitude, a figure of speech, founded upon the like- 
ness, analogy or resemblance which one thing bears 
to another. 

The Indians, having no written language, were 
forced to use figures of speech and metaphors; hence 
their language was beautifully figurative and meta- 
phorical. Tecumseh said to General Harrison in one 
of his great Indian wars: " I will fight for this land; 
I will still keep possession of this land as a home for 
myself and my children to sit down upon. I will 
still hunt the deer in their favorite haunts, and on 
these fertile meadows I will still plant my corn. For, 
the sun is my father; the earth is my mother, and 
on her bosom will I repose." So you will see that 
for this beautiful metaphor, "Mother Earth," we 

40 



are indebted to the Indians. The white people have 
taken up this metaphor and used it freely. I read in 
a newspaper that a certain man had abandoned the 
mercantile business and would hereafter endeavor to 
obtain a livelihood by scratching the face of his mo- 
ther: meaning, of course. ** Mother Earth " — Agri- 
culture. 

It would perhaps surprise you to examine and see 
how many metaphors we are using in our daily dis- 
course. For instance, if I say •' He plucked a feather 
from the wing of Time," or say with the Psalmist, 
'' take the wings of the morning and dwell in the ut- 
termost parts of the sea," or speak of 

•' The waters of bitterness '' : 

'* TKe light of beauty '' ; 

" The ship of state " ; 

"The wings of the wind " ; 

"A feast of reason " : 

"A eounoil tire " i^our legislature) ; 

'•A oloak tor sin ** ; 

"The bread of adversity"; 

"The waters of affliction " ; 

"The lamp of experience " ; 

I Utter metaphors. "The lamp of experience" is a 
very beautiful lamp. We all have one. It isn't 
like other lamps; you don't have to light it with a 
m.atch. Patrick Henry says: ** I have but one lamp 
by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp 
of experience. I know of no way of judging the 
future but by the past." 

These beautiful figures of speech are classified by 
teachers of Rhetoric as Simile, Metonymy, Metaphor, 

41 



Allegory, Antithesis, Epigram, Synecdoche, Fable, 
Parable, Interrogation, Exclamation, Apostrophe, 
Personification, Irony, etc. I might explain each of 
these separately, but for the sake of perspicuity and to 
avoid confusion I shall include them all under the 
comprehensive term metaphor. Therefore, v^dien I 
use the word metaphor I may mean any or all these 
beautiful figures of speech. I have been thus ex- 
plicit in regard to these figures because I wish to im- 
press upon your minds the vast amount of figurative 
language we are using. The language of our Saviour 
was largely and beautifully metaphorical. His teach- 
ings abounded in metaphor. The New Testament 
informs us that He spake to them in parables and 
without a parable spake He not unto them. Hence 
He says: — 

"I am the Light of the world." 

•' I am the Good Shepherd." 

"I am the Bread of Lite." 

"I am the Door of the sheep." 

-' I iim the true Tine." 

'•I am the Resurrection." 

'1 am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 

These are all metaphors. We read also that He went 
to Jerusalem and found in the Temple those which 
sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of 
money sitting; and he made a whip of small cords 
and drove them all out, poured out their money and 
overthrew their tables, and said to them that sold 
doves, ''Take these things hence. Make not my 
Father's house a house of merchandise''; and when 
asked bv what authoritv he did these thinofs, merelv 

42 



said, '^ Destroy this temple and in three da3^s I will 
raise it up." 

Nineteen centuries ago this famous Temple of Je- 
rusalem— forty-and-six years in building — adorned 
the summit of Mount Moriah, as the greatest achieve- 
ment of Jewish art, the pride and glory of the na- 
tion. To-day its ruins are scarcely discoverable, 
while the loving words of the lowdy Galilean, uttered 
w^ithin the shadow of its glory, are the comfort and 
solace of unnumbered railhons. Now he stood in 
that great temple. They had a right to think he 
meant that Temple; but he spake of the temple of 
His body, ^. ^., he spake metaphorically. 

Now we re^d in the New Testament: "And the 
third day there w^as a marriage in Cana of Gali- 
lee," and the mother of Jesus was there; and the 
Saviour on that occasion made a great quantity of 
wine from water — six water-pots full. I was highly 
pleased to read in the Northern Christian Advocate, 
a short time ago, an account by a writer who claimed 
to have data to tell the quantity of wine manufactured 
by the Saviour on that occasion. And he found by 
close figuring that it was just 125 gallons. I see Mr. 
Talmage, in one of his printed sermons, says there 
w^as 130 gallons. I did not know this matter had 
been figured out so exactly. 

It might also be well to inquire into the quality 
of that wine. We Avould not suppose the Saviour 
would make wine of inferior quality; and if of good 
quality, a small quantity might intoxicate. Now 
the evidence seems to be they were all filled with 

." ... -48 



that wine, and if they all became intoxicated we 
might well inquire the result of that intoxication; 
and if they did not become intoxicated, the reason 
w^hy — how^ they could drink so much wine and not 
become intoxicated. 

Again: We might inquire whether they got bar- 
rels and saved that wine, or w^hether they left the 
balance in the water-pots to be wasted. Another 
great curiosity is why this wine became better as they 
proceeded. We have the best evidence that they had 
the best of the wine at the last of the feast. These 
are all stubborn, abstruse questions. 

Now this Bible is the inspired Word of God. It 
is perfect. It is the most highly scientific of any 
book extant. It contains no inaccuracies, infidels to 
the contrary notwithstanding. Hence this account 
of changing water into wine will bear the closest crit- 
icism, which I propose to institute in your hearing 
to-night. 

Now, in order to settle all these points, let us ex- 
amine carefully and see whether this w^ord 'Svater'' 
always means the same thing in scripture. Let me 
show you how beautifully and clearly this Bible in- 
terprets itself if we only let it. First, notice the wa- 
ters of Noah's flood, tremendous in quantity but not 
supposed to be of good drinking quality; but these 
waters accomplished the purpose for which they were 
sent. The same waves which wafted the ark drowned 
the ungodly, but the water of the River of Life was 
clear as crystal, of which we are all invited to drink. 
Mark the invitation: '^ The spirit and the bride say 

44 



Come," etc. Again, in Ezekiel's vision of holy wa- 
ter. The water increased rapidly. When they first 
measured a thousand cubits the water came up to 
their ankles; next, to the knees; next, to the loins; 
next, a great river which could not be crossed; that 
this water proceeded from the P]ast and went out by 
way of the South. 

Now, that this is all metaphorical is very plain. 
My Masonic friends will better understand this. Ma- 
sonry teaches us that the East is the great source of 
light w^here the sun rises. The South is emblematical 
of light and heat because the sun at meridian pours 
out both light and heat in great profusion. The West 
represents the close of life where the sun of our life 
sets. The North is a place of coldness and darkness 
because in our latitude the sun never goes there. 
Now the best theologians can give no adequate ex- 
planation of this vision. Suffice it to say it is beau- 
tifully metaphorical, every word of it is big with 
meaning. Again, when the Saviour met the woman 
of Samaria at the well: — 

7 . . . Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to 
buy meat.) 

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is 
it that thou, being a Jew, aslvcst drink of me, which am a 
woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the 
Samaritans, 

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest 
the gift of God, and \\ho it is that saith to thee. Give me to 
drink ; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he w^ould have 
given thee living water. 

45 



11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing 
to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then hast 
thou that living water? 

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave 
us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, 
and his cattle? 

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drink- 
eth of this water shall thirst again; 

14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shaU never thirst; but the water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever- 
lasting life. 

Meaning an exhaustless fountain of water. Now, 
seeing the word '' water " is used in so many differ- 
ent senses in scripture, it behooves us to examine 
carefully, and as good students we should be able to 
draw information from every source. There is an 
old temperance song I used to sing which beautifully 
illustrates this point: — 

"That old oaken bucket I hail as a treasure, 

For often at noon, when returned from the field, 
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure. 
The brightest and purest that Nature can } ield. 

"How ardent I seized it with hands that were glowing, 
And quick to the rock-pebbled bottom it fell ; 
And soon with the emblem of truth overflowing, 
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well." 

It seems the writer of this song understood meta- 
phor. Now we know that that bucket was overflow- 
ing with water, but he says it was overflowing ^' with 
the emblem of truth." Hence we perceive water is 
the emblem of truth. Metaphorically it means truth 
— natural truth? When, therefore, the Saviour said 

46 



to the woman of Samaria, ^^The water that I shall 
give him shall be in him a well of water," He simply 
meant He would educate him, He would implant in 
him an exhaustless fountain of truth from which we 
might draw endless supplies and 'twould never run 
dry. 

Now this is the first metaphorical definition I have 
given you. Please remember it. Now, if water 
means truth, as I have shown you, what do you sup- 
pose wine means? Do you suppose it means that 
alcoholic stuff you buy at tlie grog-shop? If you do 
you are sadly mistaken; it has a higher and far more 
significant meaning. 

This subject is very important. Much has been 
written upon it of late. St. Paul said to Timothy, 
''My son, drink no longer water, but take a little 
wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmi- 
ties." Do you think St. Paul meant to teach his son 
to drink wine? Far from it. Could you do it, dear 
parent, knowing the complete ruin it entails of both 
soul and body? — might better sever your right arm. 

I shall not elaborate as extensively over the word 
'' wine " as I did over the w^ord '* water," but will 
give you its meaning direct and allow the truth of 
the definition to become apparent as I proceed. Wine, 
in scripture parlance, means Divine Truth. Please 
remember it. One of the most beautiful illustrations 
possible of this definition you will find in the fort}^- 
ninth chapter of Genesis — one of the most beautiful 
chapters of the Bible. When Jacob w^as about to die 
he called his twelve sons about him to receive his last 

47 



bequest, to tell them what should befall them in the 
latter days, and according to his account he had some 
hard boys. He told them upon his death-bed the 
terrible wickedness they had been guilty of; but when 
he came to Judah he overflowed with praise. Judah 
was in the line of Christ. You remember the prom- 
ise to Abraham was: '^As the stars, so shall thy 
seed be, and in thy seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed,'' meaning, of course, that Christ 
shall come in his genealogy. Abraham begat the 
promised son Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob 
begat Judah, etc. So he said: "Judah is a lion's 
whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: 
, . . The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a 
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; 
and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto 
the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, 
and his clothes in the blood of grapes." 

Now that this language is most beautiful h^ meta- 
phorical you will readily perceive. Now, what is 
meant here by the lion? What by the foal? what by 
the vine? what by garments? and what by washing 
his garments in wine? A lion signifies the power of 
Truth, A foal or colt is a beautiful animal; we all 
admire it. It metaphorically represents our choicest 
affections, the finest sentiments of the human heart. 
Thirdly, what is meant by the vine? The Saviour 
says most beautifully (St. John 15): — 

1 I am the true vine, and m^' Father is the husband- 
man. 

48 



2. Everj' branch in me thatbeareth not fruit he taketh 
away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, 
that it may bring forth more fruit. 

3 Now ye are clean through the w^ord which I liave 
spolven unto you. 

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the brancli cannot 
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can 
ye, except ye abide in me. 

5. I am the vine, ye are the branches ; He that abideth 
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : 
for without me ye can do nothing. 

A vine, therefore, means the Church. Wine, that 
is divine truth, is the fruit of this vine, the Church. 
How beautiful is this language. '^ Binding his foal 
unto the vine " therefore means binding his choicest 
affections to the Church; that is, he thought more of 
the Church than of anything else. Fourthly, he 
washed his garments in wine. To wash means to 
cleanse, to study, to investigate. Wish I had time 
to tell you what it means to wash in the Pool of 
Siloam. 

Now, w^hat is meant by a garment? Much is said in 
scripture about " garments, '' '' being clothed,'' etc. 
The apostle says: '' For we know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a 
building of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens; for in this we groan, earnestly 
desiring to be clothed upon, with our house which is 
from heaven if so be, that being clothed we shall not 
be found naked." ''Clothed with a house," think 
of it. What can this mean? To illustrate: I have 
heard a certain mother say, ''Now, my son, if that 

49 



story t-hey tell about you is true, don't deny it If 
the coat fits, put it on." Now a coat is a garment. 

Again, the Saviour says: '^No man putteth a 
piece of new cloth unto an old garment, else that w^hich 
is put in to fill it up, taketh from, and the rent is 
made worse." Some infidels have characterized this 
as the biggest lie there is in the Bible. Now that is 
very strong language, but it is highly probable at the 
time the Saviour made this assertion he could look 
out upon the street and see a patch upon almost every 
poor man's knee he met, yet he boldly made the as- 
sertion. 

Now did it never occur to you, that this is rather 
silly stuff to put in the Bible? This Bible is the 
inestimable gift of God to man, given us as the rule 
and guide of our faith and practice. Divinely in- 
spired, ought it not to be filled with something more 
sensible than an account of patching old clothes? 
But, w^hen you come to understand its metaphorical 
meaning, you will find this illustration of the Saviour 
so far from being silly, or false, is very beautiful. 
Now a patch on a garment is very vulgar. Refined 
people do not wear patched garments. A rent in a 
garment shows an accident or a late misfortune, but 
a patch is a direct acknowledgment of poverty. So 
a rent in a garment shows more refinement and better 
taste than a patch. But the highest perfection of a 
patch, in fact its crowning glory, is to have it a differ- 
ent color from the original cloth; for instance, a white 
patch on a black garment is very conspicuous. 

Now in order to get at the truth and beaut}^ of 

50 



this illustration it will be necessary to examine care- 
fully and see what a garment means in scripture par- 
lance. I now^ give you the definition direct and allow 
its truth to become apparent as I proceed. It means 
the doctrine which you believe. Don't forget, I say 
to you, the doctrine which you believe clothes you as 
a garment. To illustrate: Suppose a minister comes 
into this town, gets up a protracted meeting, and 
says: "Now, friends, come right forward and be 
prayed for, and we will pray you right through to 
glory. No matter how you feel or about the Supreme 
Being; He has nothing to do with it. We will pray 
you through ourselves." Now this is not according 
to scripture. It is robbing God of his great preroga- 
tive — of his divine attribute. It is blasphemy. 

Now what sort of garment does such a doctrine 
make for him to wear? Let us examine, to illustrate 
to these dear children: First, it is too short at the 
bottom — it comes clear above his boot-tops and 
makes him look like sin. Second, it is too narrow 
at the top — he can't get it around him without tying. 
Besides, it is filthy and full of holes. Such a gar- 
ment is far beneath patching. No one, as the Saviour 
said, would sew a piece of new cloth on such an old 
garment. He has got to throw it entirely away. He 
must have an entire new suit from head to foot. There 
is nothing on him fit to wear. But let us interview 
him: "Friend, how camest thou into this lown 
preaching such a monstrous doctrine? How camest 
thou in here to-night with such clothes on? How 
camest thou in hither, not having on the wedding 

51 



garment?' ' But he is speechless. In the language of 
scripture: '^Take him, bind him hand and foot, 
and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

Contrast this with the doctrine which I believe. 
I am pleased with this opportunity of telling you 
what I believe. I think it is right, meet, just and 
proper that I should do so. First, then, I believe in 
God. Since I took my first lessons of a pious mother 
I have believed in God. I believe in a perfect God, 
Maker and Ruler of heaven and earth, and who, as 
the apostle says, '' works all things after the counsel 
of His own will." I believe he has given us those 
priceless gems — Reason, Intellect and Immortality. 
I believe in His Divine Government. I believe He 
has given me being, made me, created me, preserved 
me and redeemed me. I believe he directs my every 
action. I believe he guides my every footstep. I 
believe he holds my breath in his hand. Doth not 
the Bible say, ^^A man's heart deviseth his way but 
the Lord directeth his steps." I, therefore, in pro- 
claiming this doctrine, invoke the language of the 
universal prayer: — 

"If I am right, Thy grace impart 
Still in the right to stay ; 
If I am wrong, O teach my heart 
To find that better way." 

Now what kind of garment does this doctrine 
make for me to wear? First, it is made of the finest 
material, new and clean, all-wool, and a yard wide. 
Fashionable, cut to fit. Doesn't pinch me anywhere; 

52 



covers me all over — thank God!— and cloth to spare; 
a garment of which I am not ashamed in any com- 
pany. Believe me, boys, this is the wedding gar- 
ment. And now, dear j-oung people that I love so 
well, that you may ever wear this precious wedding 
garment, that you may be clothed in your right minds 
— that you may be clothed in wisdom, in truth and 
in beaut3% is my most earnest wish, and remember 
the time will come when Zion shall arise, put on her 
beautiful garments and shine forth. As is said in 
Isaiah, ''Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the 
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.'' 

As a further elucidation of this subject, I will 
here state it is said Adam and Eve were naked in the 
garden of Eden. That such an unmitigated false- 
hood in its literal sense should be preached and be- 
lieved in this enlightened age of the world is a dis- 
grace to civilization. And yet they were naked, just 
as the Bible says. But in what sense were they 
naked? In just this and nothing more: All their 
thoughts, words and actions were naked before the 
Lord._^ Remember, man looketh upon the outward 
appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart. 
To shield this nakedness they covered themselves 
with fig-leaves. Now, fig-leaves, metaphorically, 
mean deception, idle excuses, pretenses. Thus they 
covered themselves with deception, idle excuses, to 
deceive the Almighty — that all-seeing Eye- — to shield 
themselves from punishment for the terrible -trans- 
gression which they had committed. 

You will xerp ember the Saviour once went to a 

53. 



fig^ree for fruit, but found nothing but leaves, i. e.^ 
nothing but deception. He cursed that tree in the 
name of the Lord and said, " No fruit shall grow on 
thee henceforth.'' And presently the fig-tree with- 
ered away; and His disciples marveled and said, 
^' How soon hath the fig-tree withered away." You 
will perceive, therefore, the fig-leaf has a very beau- 
tiful metaphorical meaning. 

But I do not stand here to plead for expensive 
garments, for costly robes or beds of down, but I do 
plead for garments that are whole and clean, pure 
and white, unpatched, washed in the blood of the 
Lamb. 

You will therefore perceive that when the Saviour 
said ''No man putteth a piece of new clothing unto 
an old garment," he simply meant His new doctrine 
could not be patched upon the old doctrine. He 
taught that the old doctrine, "an eye for an eye and 
a tooth for a tooth," should be thrown awa}^ and the 
new doctrine substituted. As He said, "Old things 
are passed away. Behold I make all things new." 
This w^as his mission on earth. As He said, "For 
this purpose came I into the world." He said: "A 
new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
another. Love your enemies. Bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them that despitefully use you and persecute you, 
that you may be the children of your Heavenly Fa- 
ther; for He causeth His sun to shine upon the evil 
and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and 
the unjust." 

54 



You will perceive, therefore, if wine means divine 
truth, to wash j^our garments in wine is simply to 
cleanse your doctrine in divine truth. Judah, there- 
fore, being in the line of Christ, should believe the 
true doctrine. So 'twas said of him ''He washed 
his garments in wine." How beautiful! You will 
also see what St. John meant by that vast throng, 
that innumerable throng, which no man could num- 
ber, who had come through great tribulation, who 
had washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb. You will perceive, therefore, 
dear boys, so long as you never drink anything but 
this precious wine of divine truth, you never need 
fear intoxication. 

Now may I tell you who I believe composed that 
blood- washed throng, that vast throng? I believe it 
included all the good people on this earth, that ever 
have lived upon it or ever will. I believe it included 
all the pure inhabitants of our sister planet Mars — a 
great many people up there. We believe they are 
the same kind of people as ourselves. I believe it 
also included all the good people of that mighty 
planet Jupiter — that great disturber of the motion 
of planets, nearly 1,400 times larger than this earth. 
Millions of people up there. 

I believe it also included millions of other worlds 
of which we know nothing. You will therefore per- 
ceive the utter incomprehensibility — the immensity 
of God's works. Do you believe you and I will be 
allowed to mingle in that vast throng? 

You will perceive, therefore, that wine in the days 

55 



of the Saviour, at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, 
meant Divine Truth. In the days of Father Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob, it meant Divine TrutiJ. It 
means Divine Truth to-day in scriptare, and when 
the Saviour changed water into wine He simply 
changed natural truth into Divine Truth, and he did 
this by teaching his disciples, by educating his fol- 
lowers. He took every occasion to teach the people. 

It was another of the many instances in which 
this blessed Bible inculcates the getting of wisdom, 
and shows that wisdom is the principal thing. It was 
simply a process of education, and the better they 
understood His doctrine the happier they were; and 
when He got through, and they understood perfectly, 
they were very happy. Emphatically, they had the 
best of the wine at the last of the feast. 

That this is the true solution of this beautiful 
metaphor appears plain. I am therefore surprised to 
read in the commentaries of Dr. Adam Clarke that 
Judah was a fighting man; that he slew his enemies 
and washed his garments in their blood. Such a doc- 
trine is very different from that of the Saviour (of 
whom he was the prototype), who said: "Love 
your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good 
to them that hate you and pray for them that despite- 
fully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the 
children of your Heavenly Father, who maketh His 
sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth the 
rain on the just and the unjust," 

Another great commentator says they had large 
grapes in those days and actually squeezed out their 

56 



juice to get fluid to wash their garments — a doctrine 
too nonsensical to be believed for a moment. Such 
illustrations need only to be spoken to show their 
falsity, and show the terrible straits into which the 
literal sense of the Bible leads its votaries. 

I cannot close this discourse without saying a 
word in regard to this marriage in Cana of Galilee. 
It was a divine marriage, a celestial marriage. The 
Bible is filled with accounts and allusions to this 
wonderful marriage. It takes the entire Bible to de- 
scribe it. It includes the whole plan of salvation; it 
is beautifully metaphorical. 

The first allusion to which I call your attention is 
to Abraham and his promised son Isaac. Their re- 
lation w^as typical of this marriage. You who are 
unaccustomed to reading and understanding the Bible 
in its beautiful metaphorical sense will not perceive 
it. It is there, however; study carefully and you will 
find it. Again, God says: '^ I do set my bow^ in the 
cloud as a token of a covenant that I will no more 
drown the people of this earth wdth a flood. I will 
no more suffer the waters of this earth to form a flood 
to drown the people, and when you do see my bow 
in the cloud I will remember my covenant." 

This beautiful tribute to the rainbow is an allu- 
sion to this marriage. But, as I said to you before, 
you who are unaccustomed to reading your Bible in 
its beautiful metaphorical sense will fail to see the 
allusion; it is there, however. Again, in the parable 
of the ten virgins it is said at midnight they took 
their lamps and w^ent forth to meet the bridegroom. 

57 



You "can all see' tli ere the allusion to a marriage. 
Likewise in Cana of Galilee there was a marriage, but 
these allusions to this marriage culminate, in my 
mind, in Revelation, where it says, ''Come, and I 
will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." But the 
most beautiful part of this marriage is, w^e are all in- 
vited. Every fallen son and daughter of Adam's 
race is honored with a card of invitation. We are 
invited by the precious bride — by the Saviour Llim- 
self. Remember the Saviour can be a bride or bride- 
groom to every son and daughter of our race. 

This invitation is to that holy place where there 
is no more sorrow; where the streets are paved w^ith 
gold; wdiere there is no need of the light of the svm 
or of the moon, for the Lamb is the* light thereof. 
You have heard this invitation so often it is hardly 
necessary for me to repeat it; but it reads, ''Come, 
for all things are prepared, and the bride hath made 
herself ready." "Come" to this marriage feast. 
The spirit and the bride say '* come "; and let him 
that heareth say "come," and let him that is athirst 
V' come " ; and whosoever will, let him take the water 
of life freely. You will perceive, therefore, how full 
and free is this glorious invitation. None are slighted ; 
and in order to give emphasis to this invitation I 
might here allude, just one moment (which I hate 
to do), to the terrible punishment inflicted upon 
those who slight this glorious invitation. Remem- 
ber, the wicked shall be turned into hell with all the 
nations that forget God. 

I have shown you that this divine tratli, this 

58 



wine^ is the juice of the grape; that the grape is the 
fruit of the vine; that the vine, according to the Sa- 
viour, is the Church; therefore, this divine truth is 
the fruit of the Church. 

How beautiful are these metaphors! I find my- 
self constantly studying them. To me the beautiful 
flowers of spring unfold no bloom so beautiful. I 
trust, therefore, you will remember the metaphorical 
definitions I have given you : That water means nat- 
ural truth; that wine means divine truth; that a lion 
signifies the power of truth — hence Judah was called 
a lion's whelp; that a foal or colt signifies your 
choicest affections; that a garment signifies the doc- 
trine you believe; that to wash your garments in 
Avine signifies to cleanse your doctrine in divine truth. 
You will, therefore, perceive how utterly impossible 
it is to understand this scripture — to have the least 
conception of its true meaning, of its truth or beauty 
— unless you understand this (to us) new language, 
this beautiful metaphorical language, in which it is 
written. 

And now, dear friends, I am pleased to have met 
you this evening. I am more than pleased that you 
have so patiently listened to my remarks. Accept 
thanks. And now repair to your homes, seek your 
repose, commit yourselves to the care of Providence, 
and when the morning again calls thee to toil, be- 
gin anew thy journey and thy life. 



59 



LECTURE III.— NOAH'S FLOOD. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

Again I come to offer you my feeble tribute of 
sincere respect, admiration and true friendly love. 
Accept it as a token of my duteous, faithful memory. 
I have shown you here on former occasions that the 
language of the Bible is largely metaphorical — that 
it is highly figurative; have shown you that wa- 
ter means natural truth; that wine means divine 
truth; that a lion signifies the power of truth; that a 
foal or colt signifies our choicest affections; that a 
vine means the true church; therefore, binding the 
foal unto the vine signifies binding the choicest affec- 
tions to the church, i. e.^ loving the church. Have 
shown you that a garment signifies the doctrine w^hich 
we believe; that washing our garments in wine signi- 
fies cleansing our doctrine in divine truth. I am 
here to-night to talk to you about Noah's flood — one 
of the niost awful subjects that the human mind can 
contemplate. When we reflect that this entire earth 
w^as once completely covered wath water high enough 
to cover the tops of the highest mountains which we 
know to be five miles high; that the entire human 
family, including all the men, women and children 
except Noah and his family — all the beasts of the 
field, the fowls of the air — in fact, every thing that 

60 



could not live in the water were drowned, we are 
appalled with the account of it. When we reflect 
upon the vast number of people on earth at that 
time, the surprising length of men's lives before the 
flood, we will see that the "then known world" 
must have been almost literall}^ covered with people. 

Suppose men's lives averaged about 900 years; 
what enormous families they must have had. The 
multiplication of the human family must have been 
incomprehensible. It was in geometrical ratio, and 
every good arithmetician knows what that means. 
So the wholesale slaughter of human life must have 
been appalling. When we reflect upon the vast num- 
ber of innocent children who had not reached the 
line of accountability and consequently knew no 
wrong, and the numberless beautiful babes who per- 
ished in that flood, the account beggars description. 

Now that terrible flood must have covered this 
very spot we now occupy; for the Bible says: "And 
all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, 
were covered." And water seeks its level. Suppose 
I had had a premonition of that flood and had es- 
caped with my family to the high hill above the Red 
Mill. We could there see from a comparatively safe 
standpoint the commencement of that raging flood. 
We could see the water rising — could see many below 
us, old and nearly helpless, overtaken and drowned; 
could see beautiful women, as good as God made, 
with babes in their arms, struggling to the utmost to 
escape the death of drowning; could see others on 
higher ground overtaken, and as the waters continued 

61 



to rise, my children would say: ^'Pa, I fear the 
water will come up here." 

"Oh, no!" I would say; ''we are on high 
ground." But as it continued to rise their fears 
would become real, and as the waters reached our 
feet they would say: — 

''What have we done that we should be relent- 
lessly drowned? What shall we do?" 

Could I say, "Trust in God?" They would im- 
mediately reply: "How can we trust in Him? He 
is the ver}^ one that is drowning us." They would 
climb into the trees only to be overtaken. 

Now this is no fancy sketch. It must have 
happened all over this earth. It is only the stern 
reality of that flood; and as I reflect upon the vast 
number of people drowned, of the beautiful babes 
and innocent children, and all the animals and fowls 
of the air, I am overwhelmed with horror. Now this 
flood was sent by the same God who said by his Son, 
when upon the earth : ' ' Suffer little children to come 
unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven. And again: " Whosoever shall 
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall 
not enter therein." 

This flood must have covered all Europe, Asia, 
Africa, North and South America, and all the islands 
of the ocean. Think what wonderful tides they must 
have had. Think also of the structure of the ark. 
Go to New York City, if you please, and look at the 
immense shipping in the harbor. Look at those sea- 
faring vessels. See how powerfully they are built, 

62 



how heavily ballasted. Then think of Noah's ark, 
with only one window, and a door in the side for the 
animals to go in, and scarcely ballasted at all. 

Scientific mariners tell us such a craft would be 
bottom up before it had ridden the waves an hour. 
And again: The ark rested on Mount Ararat. Now 
we know that Mount Ararat is more than three miles 
high; that its top is covered with perpetual snow, 
and Noah's ark rode to that great height and stuck 
fast in that eternal snow. Some of the animals from 
the Torrid zone must have mi very cold in that cli- 
mate. And again: Think of the trouble of getting 
the animals from all parts of the earth to the ark to 
be saved alive. Noah must have had a pair of white 
bears from Greenland's icy mountains, a pair of buffa- 
loes and grizzly bears from our western borders, and 
pairs of all those ferocious animals from the Torrid 
zone — lions, tigers, zebras, etc., etc. 

Now I am here to-night to say to 3^ou I have dis- 
covered a key to this wonderful flood which unlocks 
its mysteries, which explains it so clearly the child 
can understand. The wayfaring man though a fool 
need not err. It makes the story of the flood very 
beautiful. This key is found in the ninth chapter of 
St. John's gospel and reads as follows: — 

1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was 
blind from his birth. 

2. And his disciples asked him, sayinp:, Master, Avho 
did sin, this man, or his parents, that he w^as born blind? 

3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor 
his parents : but that the works of God should be made m-m- 
ifest in him. 

63 



4. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it 
is day : the night eometh, when no man can work. 

5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the 
world. 

6. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, 
and made cla}^ of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the 
blind man with the clay, 

7. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. 
He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 

But you will immediately exclaim, '' What man 
of brains can see any connection between this chap- 
ter and Noah's flood?" Dorrt be hasty, and allow 
me to show you how beautifully this Bible interprets 
itself if we only let it. This chapter tells the course 
the Saviour took to open the eyes of a man blind 
from birth. Now what was the cause of this man's 
blindness? Had he a film over his eyes which only 
the knife of a surgeon could remove? Why did not 
the Saviour say, " I am the Son of God. I can per- 
form miracles, and I command that this man see"? 
But he didn't do any such thing. He simply spat 
upon the ground and made clay, anointed his eyes 
w^ith the cla}^ and said, ''Go wash in the pool of 
Siloam." He went, washed, and returned, seeing, 
leaping, rejoicing, and praising God, and when asked 
who opened his eyes, said: " I don't know, sir. He 
was a stranger to me; I never saw him before. I 
don't know whether he was a good man or a bad 
man. I don't know whether he was saint or sinner, 
but one thing I do knoio: Avhereas I was blind — noio 
I see — praise God! That's what concerns me." 

Now that this is all metaphorical is very plain. 

64 



I 



What is meant here by the spittle? what by the clay? 
what by anointing his eyes? and, above all, what by 
washing in the pool of Siloam? Do you suppose we 
have such a pool here in Van Etten? I assure you 
w^e have that same pool. If I will show you this 
Avonderful pool wall you agree to wash in it, that 
your eyes may be opened — that you may be able to 
discern spiritual things? I believe you will. I there- 
fore present you right here with the pool of Siloam? 
Here it is, dear boys, this precious Bible (presenting 
the Bible) — this is the pool of Siloam; this is the 
most precious pool in which man ever washed. It is 
filled with the w^ater of life. 

What is it to wash in this precious pool? How 
do you do it? The Saviour tells you, beautifully, 
emphatically, when he says: ' ' Search the scriptures. 
In them ye think ye have eternal life, and think 
truly; and they are they that testify of me." Allow 
me to reiterate this injunction of the Saviour, ' 'Search 
the scriptures"; and not only search the scriptures, 
but seek diligently — 0! seek diligently — for this 
beautiful meaning. It pervades the entire scriptures. 

I have told you on a former occasion, when 
speaking of washing your garments in wine, that '' to 
wash" means to cleanse, to read, to study, to inves- 
tigate; so to w^ash in the pool of Siloam means to 
read, to study, to investigate the scriptures — how 
beautiful! Again: The Saviour says, ''The kingdom 
of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly 
pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great 
price, goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth 

65 



that pearl." The metaphorical sense of this is very 
beautiful. 

Again: The Saviour says, '^The kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field, which, 
when a man hath found it, he goeth and selleth all 
that he hath and buyeth that field. ' ' Now what kind 
of field do you suppose the Saviour was talking 
about? Do you suppose we have such a field here 
in A^an Etten? I assure you we have a field here con- 
taining that hidden treasure — more precious than all 
the gold of the Klondyke, more precious than all the 
glittering gold of Ophir, or the virgin silver of the 
Spanibh Main. 

If I will show you that field will you agree to dig 
in it until you unearth this hidden treasure, this 
precious jewel, that bright gem, that precious pearl, 
that pearl of great price, which so enriches its pos- 
sessor and grows brighter and brighter even unto the 
perfect day? I believe you will. I therefore present 
you with that field. Here it is — this precious Bible: 
this is the field. The treasure hidden in this field is 
its Internal sense, its Educated sense, its Figurative 
sense, its Metaphorical sense, its Emblematical sense, 
its Allegorical sense, its Representative sense, its 
Symbolic sense. 01 will 3^ou not dig in this field until 
you unearth this hidden treasure? I assure you the 
deeper you dig the richer you wall find the precious 
ore. 

We will now apply this key to the solution of the 
mysteries of Noah's flood. Now I am here to show 
you, from a scientific standpoint, that this idea that 

66 



a flood of natural water ODce covered this earth and 
drowned its inhabitants with this terrible slaughter, 
is, in my opinion, the most monstrous falsehood ever 
sought to be imposed upon a confiding and credulous 
public. Yet this doctrine, false as it is, is taught to 
our children in their stories of the Bible. It is taught 
in our Sabbath-schools, it is preached from our pul- 
pits, it is believed by our people, it is trumpeted 
abroad upon the breath of admiration, and that too 
in this intelligent age of the world, in this land of 
books and Bibles, of literature and learning, this 
boasted land of intelligence — yea, in this enlightened 
Nineteenth century. "For shame!" 

I am here to show you that the annihilation or 
creation of a single particle of matter, either solid or 
liquid, upon this earth, is utterly impossible. I am 
here to show you that there never was a time when 
there was any more water upon this earth than there 
is to-day. There never was a time when there was 
any less, and it is the same water. It exists in our 
great oceans, our rivers and lakes, or in the atmos- 
phere in the shape of clouds, rain, dew and moisture. 
This earth to-day weighs precisely the same it did 
when it first came from the plastic hand of its great 
Creator. It has not grown one particle or diminished 
one particle in all these millions of years. What shall 
we say then? 

Is the Bible false? Far from it. I will show you 
that " Noah's flood," like changing water into wine, 
like washing in the pool of Siloam, like washing your 
garments in wine, is a most beautiful metaphor. To 

67 



ascertain its true meaning we will compare it with 
other floods of the Bible, and they are many. For 
instance, the Psalmist David had a flood just like 
Noah's. He says in the 69th Psalm: "Save me, 
God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I 
sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am 
come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 
All thy billows are gone over me.'' 

Was David drowned? I don' t beheve he was. He 
kept on writing Psalms just the same, but he must 
have got awful wet if all the billows passed over him. 

One inspired writer says: "The floods of un- 
godly men made me afraid." Now mark, what kind 
of floods do ungodly men have? Simply this — they 
have floods of wickedness. Who is not afraid of the 
floods (the wickedness) of ungodly men? Who does 
not keep his buildings insured and take especial care 
to guard against private injuries? Here, then, is the 
solution of the mystery of Noah's flood. It means a 
flood of wickedness. A flood, metaphorically, means 
W'ickedness. Hence this great flood of Noah was 
simply that great flood of wickedness wdiich prevailed 
upon the earth in his day. These waters of wicked- 
ness which covered the earth at that time were anal- 
agous to those waters of affliction spoken of by the 
prophet Isaiah when he said the Lord had given him 
the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction. 

In my opinion the funniest flood of all the floods 
spoken of in the Bible is described in the 12th chap- 
ter of Revelation. The woman which brought forth 
the man child, and represented the true Church, 

68 



encountered a serpent. It does seem, according to 
the Bible, that true women, in all ages of the world, 
have been terribly troubled with serpents. This ser- 
pent cast water out of its mouth as a flood to drown 
this woman, that she might be carried away of the 
flood, and would have succeeded but our Mother 
Earth — ever kind and indulgent — from which we de- 
rive so many blessings, performed another kind act- — 
she graciously opened her mouth and swallowed up 
this flood which came from the mouth of this ser- 
pent. So it didn't drown anybody; it didn't even 
wash anybody aw^a3^ Now this flood from the mouth 
of this serpent was jlist such a flood as Noah's and 
represents that great flood of trash, of false teaching, 
of wickedness, sin, iniquity and filth, which proceeds 
from the mouths of these serpents^ — these holy preach- 
ers who profess to teach the Bible and don't know 
the true meaning of a word that is in it. This flood 
deluges the whole earth. It covers the tops of the 
highest mountains. The serpent here represents, as 
it always does, the Evil One — Deceit, Sophistry, 
Subtlety, Eloquence, Magnetism, Charming, Fascina- 
tion — and in this way the true Church was sought to 
be drowned by a flood of false argument and sophis- 
try. But I trust you will believe what I tell you, 
and not be drowned or carried away by the vast flood 
of error and false teaching which proceeds from the 
mouths of these holy preachers, or serpents. 

Again, human life is represented as a sea. We 
are all sailing on this tempestuous sea of human life. 
We encounter its storms, its troubles, its trials and 

69 



tribulations, and when these become too numerous 
this sea is converted into a raging flood. We also 
encounter its pleasures and joys. 

Again : I read in a newspaper that a certain couple 
had launched their frail craft upon the sea of matri- 
mony. Now the sea of matrimony is a ver}^ beauti- 
ful sea. A great many are sailing on this sea, and a 
great many more act as though they would like to be 
saihng that don't seem to quite get there. Now^ I 
said the sea of matrimony is a beautiful sea, and so 
it is, when the weather is fair and the sea is smooth; 
but when the weather gets stormy and the sea is 
rough, this sea isn't so nice. It is converted into a 
flood. The waves roll mountains high; their frail 
craft is tossed hither and yon, and many get ship- 
wrecked on this beautiful sea and even ask for a 
divorce. So I advise all those sailing on this sea to 
lay aside all selfishness, in order that they may have 
fair weather and a fine voyage. 

I have in mind at this moment a couple who, 
many years ago, launched their frail craft on the sea 
of matrimony, and they have had a fine voyage. 
The groom was taken violently ill, soon after the 
launching, with a terrible pneumonia. I w^as called 
to attend him and found them reveling in the sacred 
delights of the honeymoon, and that was the sw^eet- 
est house I ever w^as in. Though a large house, I 
couldn't find anything in it from bottom to top 
but honey and pie and sugar-candy. You ask if he 
got w^ell. Certainly — he had to get well with such 
exquisite care. His every want was anticipated. I 

70 



have sometimes been almost unprofessional enough 
to believe he might have got well if he hadn't taken 
anj^ medicine, and I am pleased to be able to say 
that same sweetness still prevails in that house. No 
storms have ever arisen to mar the delights of their 
voyage. They have, of course, encountered a few 
"squalls," as such mariners generally do, but these 
have only tended to cement them more closely in the 
silken bonds. You are well aware on some certifi- 
cates of marriage is a picture representing the happy 
couple seated in a beautiful boat and sailing on a 
beautiful sea. 

Agam: The ark is always an emblem of salva- 
tion. You have all heard of the great ark of safety. 
You know, too, the ark of bullrushes saved the life 
of the infant Moses. You all remember:— 

When Pharaoh's daughter 

Went down to the water, 
And found little Moses swimming around, 

With his basket aU handy. 

And a stick of sweet candy, 
To keep him Irom crying until he was found, 

She said to her maiden, 
'* Bring here the young h'athin'. 
And malce haste about it, you lazy colleen ! 

If the water once wets him, 

Or nn alligator gets hind, 
It's no crocodile tears you'll be sheddin', I ween." 

So they took him in from his swimmin' 

And brcuglit him to the wimmin'. 
Which shows that a blarney is a maiden's chief joy ; 

And as sure as I'm sp'akin' 

A nate bow he was makin', 
"'I tell you," said she, "he's a broth of a boy !"' 

71 



So the ark represents salvation. Again : The ark 
rested upon tlie top of Mount Ararat. Now what is 
meant by this word "Ararat"? I am told it means 
light, or love; and, if so, it means that this ark — this 
emblem of salvation — rested upon those beautiful, 
those delectable mountains of light and love. How 
beautiful! So, wdiile sailing upon this tempestuous 
sea of human life, when storms arise and the sea is 
converted into a flood of wdckedness, remember the 
gospel ship is sailing — that great ark of safety. It is 
entirely seaworthy. It has sailed many years. It 
will safely land all its passengers and safely moor you 
in that peaceful harbor where the wicked cease from 
troubling and the weary will find rest. So, if you 
would be free from that great flood of wickedness 
prevailing without, get on board this gospel ship. 

Again: This awful flood covered the tops of the 
highest mountains, meaning if there was a liian on 
top of the highest mountain that man would be a 
wicked man; consequently this flood of wickedness 
covered the tops of the highest mountains. So we 
perceive that Noah's flood was a most beautiful met- 
aphor—an allegory — written in the finest style of 
Oriental language. 

I trust I will not be deemed irreverent because I 
have the audacity to doubt the W'isdom of those pe- 
dantic scholars who believe only the literal sense of 
the Bible, and who pore over the mouldering rem- 
nants of antiquity and, like moles, .burrow in the 
earth, shut out all light, and fail to see the bright 
sun of intelligence, and never realize that there is a 

72 



glorious sky overhead. While I have no reverence 
for barren or wasted intellect, I have the profoundest 
respect for the fruitful intellect which produces val- 
uable results. 

We read also: "It rained forty days and forty 
nights.'' Must have been a lengthy shower. But 
when I conje to show you that a rain in scripture 
parlance simply means a *' shower of temptations," 
the mystery of this terrible rain entirely vanishes. 

I smile, sometimes almost audibly, when I notice 
people keeping Lent, believing they are thereby com- 
memorating the forty days' and forty nights' tempta- 
tions of the Saviour in the wilderness. But they are 
commemorating " just as much " the forty days and 
forty nights it rained temptations upon the antedi- 
luvians, for they both mean one and the same thing. 

When we contemplate those terrible temptations 
of the Saviour in the wilderness, those terrible forty 
days and forty nights during which it rained tempta- 
tions upon him, we are almost surprised that He had 
sufficient fortitude to resist them. It would seem 
that His divine nature only gave Him this power of 
resistance. After He had fasted this entire time and 
was exceedingly hungry, the Devil says to Him: 
"If you are the Son of God, as you say you are, 
command that these stones be made bread." But 
the Saviour said: ' ' It ib written ' Man shall not live 
by bread alone,' " i. 6., he could not make a meal 
on dry bread. He would need something on it, some 
butter or something to make it go down. He thus 
resisted the Devil at every point. 

73 



Again: The Devil taketh Him up into the holy 
city and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 
and says: '' If you are the Son of God, cast thyself 
down and it won't hurt you, for it is written, ' He 
shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, and in 
their hands they shall hear Thee up, lest at any time 
Thou dash thy foot against a stone.' " Dear friends, 
were you ever in a very high |)lace — a very dizzy 
height? How^ awful to look down! A person is 
sometimes seized with a hypnotic influence, an al- 
most irresistible desire to throw himself dow^n. But 
the Saviour on this occasion could not be induced to 
tempt the Lord by jumping. 

Again: The Devil taketh Him up into an high 
mountain and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the 
world, and said: '' All these will I give Thee if Thou 
wilt fall down and worship me." Bat the Saviour 
said : ^ ' Get behind me, Satan ; for it is written ' Thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt> 
thou serve.'" We find yielding to temptations is 
invariably followed by a flood of wickedness, as with 
the antediluvians. But the Saviour did not yield to 
these temptations. He did not eat that " forbidden 
fruit," and consequently was not overwhelmed b}^ 
any flood of wickedness. On the contrary, angels 
came and ministered unto Him. 

But the people who keep Lent are also commem- 
orating the forty years it took the children of Israel 
to get through the wilderness. I heard a preacher 
in my youth — a good old soul who believed only the 
literal sense of the Bible — tell why it took them so 

74 



long to get through that wilderness. He said it was 
not the length of the way that caused it, but the going 
was so bad; it was so hilly and so holey and so ter- 
ribly rocky the)^ could not get along. This distance 
really was short; but when I come to show you it 
was the metaphorical wilderness of sin they were 
traveling through — that a wilderness signifies a state 
of temptations — you will not wonder it took them 
forty years to get through it, even if the going was 
good. • 

To sum all up, therefore, you will see that Noah's 
flood was entirely metaphorical. It never had any 
existence in reality. You will also perceive the w^a- 
ters of Noah's flood — those terrible waters of wicked- 
ness — are upon the earth to-day just as they were in 
the days of Noah. They are just as deep now as 
then and are drowning just as many people. They 
are, in fact, drowning out every moral sentiment, 
every refined impulse of the human heart. The met- 
aphorical sense of the Bible raises your minds from 
carnal and curious speculations to spiritual and profit- 
able ideas. You are assailed on every side by a flood 
of error and false teaching. These floods come in 
upon your soul, and without a proper ark you will 
be spiritually drowned. As the Saviour said of the 
man who built his house upon the sand: ''The 
rains descended and the floods came, and the winds 
blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great 
w^as the fall thereof." 

And now, dear friends, I am pleased to have met 
you this evening. I hope you will always have clear 

75 



views of Noah's flood — that great flood of wicked- 
ness — and, in conclusion 

" So live, that when thy summons comes 

To join the innumerable caravan which moves to that mys- 
terious realm 

Where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of 
Death, 

Thou go not like the slave — scourged to his dungeon — 

But sustained and soothed b}^ that unerring frust, 

By that perfect confidence in that perfect God, 

Approach thy grave like one 

Who wraps the drapery of his couch about him 

And lies down to pleasant dreams." 









76 



LECTURE IV.— THE RESURREC- 
TION. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

Again I greet you to this hall now sacred to Sci- 
ence. We meet here upon a common level. I am 
as ignorant of your foibles as you are of mine. The 
subject to-night is '' The Resurrection " — one of the 
most beautiful subjects of the Bible — and in present- 
ing it I am reminded that this earth is filled with 
beautiful things. 

" The world is full of Poetry. 
The air is living with its spirit, 
The waves dance to the music of its melodies 
And sparkle in its brightness.'' 

As a specimen of these beautiful poems, I note 
that to our beautiful inland lake: — 

" Edged by a broad and silvery belt 

Of pebbles bright and glittering sand, 
Its wateis into music melt, 

When breaking on the strand ; 
And its glimmering sheet of azure lies 

Unvexed by loud and warring blast, 
For green old hills that round it rise 
Fence this fair mirror of the skies 

From storms that journey past." 

So also of the ocean Campbell says: — 

77 



*' Earth has not a plain 
So boundless or so beautiful as thine ; 
The eagle's vision cannot take it in ; 
The lightning's glance too weak to sweep its space, 
Sinks half-way o'er it, like a wearied bird ; 
It is the mirror of the stars, where all 
Their hosts within the concave firmament. 
Gay marching to the music of the spheres, 
Can see themselves at once." 

The mighty ocean is beautiful and subhme. 
When we reflect upon its vastness, upon its mighty 
inhabitants; of the Gulf stream and other ocean 
currents which, like mighty rivers, flow through its 
substance, carrying torrid heat to modify the rigor 
of northern climes, we are amazed at the arrange- 
ments of Providence. 

But the Bible is beautiful above all. When I 
read of changing water into wine, and that Judah 
washed his garments in wine, and of that blood- 
washed throng which no man could number, I am 
charmed. When I read of Noah's flood, I am as- 
tonished at the beauty of the language; when I think 
of the w^edding gari^ent, I see its beauty; but when 
I read and reflect upon the Resurrection my soul ex- 
ults. I seem lifted from nature up to nature's God 
• — caught up, as it w^ere, to the third heaven, so beau- 
tiful is the subject. 

I wdsh on this occasion to direct my address to 
the young people. I do so from the fact that it is 
useless to address these old heads here before me, for 
they believe false doctrines. They have been taught 
false doctrines from their youth. They are rooted 

78 



and grounded in error. They are established in falsity. 
They remind me of the words of King Solomon, who 
says, '' Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar 
with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from 
him." These words are as true to-day as they were 
when spoken in the days of King Solomon; for, al- 
though I have handled the mortar and pestle very 
much in my day, I presume I might bray these old 
heads here before me in the mortar of science with 
the pestle of truth for hours, yet would not their 
foolishness depart from them. They would remain 
in the same condition as before I talked to them; so 
I don't want to talk to them at all. I do not wish to 
cast pearls before swine. Their minds are beclouded 
with ignorance, and you will please note, a cloud, 
metaphorically, means ignorance. It means the lit- 
eral sense of the word — that misty cloud which ob- 
scures the glorious sunlight of intelligence. But 
mark, 

" When once bright reason drives that cloud away, 
Truth breaks upon us with resistless day." 

But I do wish to address these young people. 
Their minds are vigorous and plastic. Their reason- 
ing powers are free to act. They are not trammelled 
by church creeds or |)arty shackles. I love these 
young people. They have brains to appreciate what 
I say and appreciate it in the sense in which I in- 
tend it. 

I have already shown you that the language of 
the Bible is largely metaphorical — that water means 
natural truth, that wine means divine truth, and 

79 



many other beautiful metaphors. St. Paul says, in 
speaking of the Resurrection: ''We shall not all 
sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible. When this corruptible 
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall 
have put on immortality, then shall be brought to 
pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed 
up in victory. death, where is thy sting? grave, 
where is thy victory?" and makes many other allu- 
sions to this glorio:is doctrine. 

I have lived among you manv years. I have 
learned to love this people. You have simply known 
me as a physician having power to heal the sick — a 
power which I highly ])rize. But I wish now to 
show you that this is the least of my power; to show 
you that I also have power (now, don't be fright- 
ened) to raise the dead. Now, in order to show you 
that I have this power — -that I am telling you the 
strict truth all the time — I will proceed to perform 
this mighty feat right here in your presence to-night. 
So now watch me carefully; see that I don't do this 
in a corner — that I don't perform any sleight of hand, 
and just hold your breath a fevv' moments and see 
me raise the dead. 

Now, in order to get at this mighty feat under- 
standingly, we will just examine, a few moments, 
and endeavor to ascertain the kind of people we asso- 
ciate with in this beautiful village. We associate with 
people of intelligence, refinement and education — 
many whose reasoning powers are developed by 

80 



mathematical study, who know the meaning; of many 
words. The}^ treat us kindly, invite us to visit at 
their homes, show a keen sense of propriety and po- 
liteness in aU their words and actions; say nothing 
harsh, and, if necessary, they tell us all those little 
white lies, those polite lies, those French lies that 
people tell to keep us cheerful. 

They also invite us to sup with them, and you 
wdll notice ihey eat just as nice as anybody. You 
would really think they had common-sense. But 
w^hen you examine carefully you will find these same 
people, with all their education, reasoning powers, 
refinement and intelligence, really believe that this 
earth was once actually and absolutely covered with 
water five miles deep; ^. 6., they believe Noah's flood 
was a real thing. They believe he had a crazy craft 
which he called an ark, and in that ark he had gath- 
ered together pairs of all animals on earth that could 
not live in water. He must have had a pair of white 
bears from Greenland's icy mountains and pairs of 
other animals from Afric's burning sands — must have 
had a pair of buffaloes and grizzly-gray bears from 
our w^estern prairies. He got those animals all to- 
gether somewhere near Mount Ararat, without being 
acclimated at all, and put them in that ark and kept 
them there 150 days. Now I wish to say nothing 
harsh, but I do say all people who believe such mon- 
strous nonsense as that, are — in scripture parlance — 
dead. They are dead and buried; they occupy the 
graves of ignorance and superstition. The Bible con- 
siders them dead — speaks of them as dead. I will 

81 



proceed to show you. Now, if such people are dead, 
what must I do to raise them from the dead, i. 6., to 
get them out of these graves of ignorance in which 
they have been so long reposing? Don't you see, all 
I have to do is to educate them, to teach them, to 
show them they are believing monstrous nonsense — 
that the Bible doesn't mean any such thing. They 
then become intelligent; they are educated. They 
are raised from the death of ignorance to the glorious 
life of intelligence. They are raised from the dead. 
You will see, therefore, it is no great trick to raise 
the dead — to raise a person from the death of igno- 
rance to the glorious life of intelligence. 

At the raising of Lazarus, you will remember, the 
Saviour did not arrive upon the scene of action till 
Lazarus had lain in the grave four days. Martha did 
not reproach Him with negligence, but she did say, 
" Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother w^ould 
not have died." Jesus said to her, " Thy brother 
shall rise again." Martha said, ''I know^ he will 
rise again at the resurrection of the last day." It 
would seem from this remark of Martha that there 
w^as at that day a class of ignorant people on earth, 
just as there is to-day, wdio actually believed that 
these rotten bodies will get out of these graves some 
day and come forth. 

Did the Saviour agree with her? Did he indorse 
that sentiment? Far from it. Instead, he gave her 
the shortest and finest definition of the resurrection 
ever known. He merely said to her, ""I am the res- 
iirrectlony Now, if our Saviour was the resurrec- 

82 



tioD, could this getting out of our graves at the last 
(lay be the resurrection? Verily not. Jesus said, 
" He that helieveth in Me, though he were dead yet 
shall he live," i. 6., though he were dead in igno- 
rance vet shall he live the glorious life of intelligence; 
and again: '' Whosoever liveth and helieveth in me 
shall never die," i. e., shall never die the death of 
ignorance. To say he would never die a natural death 
would be folly. "For the living know^ that they 
shall die." (Ec. 9:5.) The Saviour here only in- 
culcated the getting of wisdom — education — as he 
always did. 

I am here to show you that death in scripture 
means ignorance, and life, intelligence. Properly 
speaking, there is no death. What we call death is 
only the commencement of a new life — that glorious 
state of existence upon the other shore — the birth 
into that new world to which w^e are all so rapidly 
hastening. 

" It is not death to die ! 
When love has gained its own immortal crown, 
The soul then only leys its burden down 
To upward fly. 

" It is not death to die ! 
Upborne by prayers of all the good and true, 
Be missed and mourned by all we ever knew. 
Ah ! this is not to die. 

" In all we hear and see. 
The blessed mem'ry that lives evermore. 
'Tis memory here; but on the heavenly shore 
'Tis immortality." 

The faith of our greatest men in this glorious doc- 

83 



trine is shown by their writings, especially by Ben- 
jamin Franklin, wlio, in his epitaph, says: — 

Here lies the body of Benjaiiin Franklin, 

Like the cover of an old book, 

Its leaves torn out ; 

But it will appear again 

In a new and more beautiful edition, 

Revised and corrected 

By 

The Author. 

I am here to show you that the word death in 
scripture is used in man 3^ different senses. 

1. Natural death. 

2. The death of ignorance, the worst death of all. 
Hence the apostle says: "Awake, thoa that sleepest, 
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee 
light." (Eph. 5:14.) You will see, therefore, we 
need a mighty resurrection here in Van Ettenville — 
we need to be raised from the death of ignorance. It 
is high time we awoke to the light of truth. 

3. Some people are ruled by a hellish influence 
and dead in trespasses and sin. 

4. Some are dead like the Prodigal Son. 

How beautiful is that story told by the Saviour. 
A young man sa-id to his father, •' Give me the por- 
tion of goods that falleth to me, as I wish to try my 
fortune." So he divided with him his living. He 
took his money and went into a far country and 
wasted his substance in riotous living. And wdien 
he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that 
land. So he joined himself to a citizen of that coun- 
try, who sent him to feed swine, and so hungry was 

84 



he he fain would have filled his belly with the husks 
the swine did eat, and he said, " How man}^ servants 
of my father have bread enough and to spare while I 
perish with hunger. I will arise and go to ni}^ 
fatlier, and will say, ' Father, I have sinned against 
heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to 
be called thj^ son. Make me as one of thy hired ser- 
vants. ' " But wdien his father saw him yet a great 
way off he had compassion on him, and ran and fell 
on his neck and kissed him, and placed a ring on his 
hand and shoes on his feet, and said: ''Bring the 
best robe and put it on him, and kill the fatted calf.'' 
So he made a great party in his honor. They had 
feasting and rejoicing; they had music and dancing. 
For he said: ''This, my son, was dead and is alive 
again." Now had that son been really dead? He 
had been dead to his father — that's all. His father 
never expected to see him again. 

Again, a person may be dead drunk. You will 
remember Noah celebrated his victory over the flood 
by an awful spree. He got gloriously drunk. I 
think if any man on earth ever had a good excuse 
for getting drunk, it was Noah. I think if God Al- 
mighty had drowned everybody else and saved me 
alive, I would be willing to get drunk too. 

Seeing, therefore, this word "death" is used in 
scripture in so many different senses, it behooves us 
to examine carefully and ascertain its true meaning 
in every case; but according to the Saviour the death 
of ignorance is the worst death of all. I will now 
give to these dear children an exposition of this 

85 



beautiful resurrection so plain that the child can un- 
derstand; the wayfaring man though a fool need not 
err. Now, children, you all know in my garden 
there are a good many apple-trees. The neighbors 
have some, and altogether it makes quite an orchard. 
Now in the springtime there are a good many worm- 
nests in these trees, and when grown these worms 
crawl down the tree upon our walks and make it very 
disagreeable. I wish there were no nauseous apple- 
tree worms. But watch one of them carefully and 
you will see a very beautiful phenomenon disclosed. 
You will see it crawls to some sheltered situation and 
there builds its cocoon. This cocoon on the outside 
looks like coarse, yellowish hair- cloth; but if you 
examine the inside 3^ou will find it smooth as the 
finest polished ivory. We sometimes call them cat- 
erpillars^ nests. The worm having finished its co- 
coon, spun its task, lays its eggs, and dies. The 
heat of summer hatches out these eggs and they bring 
forth — what do you suppose — another worm? Far 
from it. It hatches out a beautiful butterfly. It is 
no longer a crawlmg worm but a beautiful butterfly 
with wings. It flies about in the free air; it alights 
upon the flowers; it disports itself in God's glorious 
sunshine; it is very happy. So, you will see, the 
death of the worm signifies the resurrection of the 
beautiful butterfly. Likewise the death of this body 
signifies the resurrection of the immortal soul which 
comes forth, phoenix-like, from its own ashes, as 
much above the mortal bodv from which it eman- 



86 



ated as the beautiful butterfly is above the nauseous 
worm from which it sprang. 

St. Paul says: ''It is sown in dishonor; it is 
raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised 
in power." It is remarkable that the Greek word 
"Psyche," which means soul, also means the but- 
terfly. The goddess Psyche is represented with wings 
like the butterfly; and the resurrection of the butter- 
fly, bursting forth with brilliant wings from the tomb 
of its caterpillar existence, is the most beautiful illus- 
tration known in all nature of the immortality of the 
soul. It is a glorious resurrection. 

As another illustration, the apostle says: ''That 
which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. " 
The kernel of corn which you plant, dies; but, being 
an organized body, has power of reproducing itself; 
hence it sprouts and brings forth first the blade, then 
the stalk, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear 
— a beautiful illustration of the resurrection, by St. 
Paul. 

Another illustration: Our day dies. It is fol- 
lowed by the setting sun, the night — the death of 
darkness. As the poet sings: — 

" ' Tis niglit, and the landscape is lovely no more. 

I mourn, but ye woodlands I mourn not for you : 
For morn is approaching, your charms to restore, 

Perfumed with fresh fragmnce and glittering with dew." 

But this terrible death of darkness is followed by the 
resurrection of the new day — the glorious morning — 
so beautifully narrated by Mr. Edward Everett. He 
says, in describing his midnight journey over the 

87 



Blue Mountains: "As we proceeded, the timid ap- 
proach of twilight became more perceptible; the in- 
tense blue of the sk}^ began to soften; the smaller 
stars, like little children, went first to rest; the sister 
beams of the Pleiades soon melted together; but the 
bright constellations of the west and north remained 
unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration 
went on. Hands of angels hidden from mortal eyes 
shifted the scenery of the heavens; the glories of night 
dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky 
now turned more softly gray; the great watch stars 
shut up their holy eyes; the east began to kindle. 
Faint streaks of purple soon blushed along the sky; 
the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflow- 
ing tides of the morning light, which came pouring 
down from above in one great ocean of radiance; till 
at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a flash of 
purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and 
turned the dewy tear-drops of flower and leaf into 
rubies and diamonds. In a few seconds the ever- 
lasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, 
and the lord of day, arrayed in glories too bright for 
mortal eyes, began his state." You therefore see 

" How sweet the beams of rosy morning, 
Silent chasing gloom away ; 
Lovely tints the sky adorning, 
Harbingers of opening day.'' 

Glorious resurrection of the new day. 

Again: Our year dies. The summer wanes into 
autumn, and the autumn into winter, when the poet 
again sings: — 

88 



"Now Winter is come with his cold chilly breath, 
And the verdure is dropped from the trees. 
All nature seems touched with the fluger of death, 
And the streams are beginning to freeze.'' 

How terrible the death of winter which coDSumes 
the product of summer, but this death is followed by 
the resurrection of the new year^ — the glorious spring 
time, when the sun once more returns to us, melts 
the snow and the ice, warms the soil and ushers in 
the season of flowers, and love-making by St. Valen- 
tine's day, when the birds choose their mates, when 
the poet again sings. Although all seasons of the 
year are appropriate for love-making, 

" Still there are months which nature grows more merry in, 
March has its hares and May must have its heroine;" 

Shakspeare also, in describing his love, says he 
could see the April in her eyes, i. 6., the springtime. 
The wise man also says: ''Arise, my love, come 
forth, for lo! the winter is past sirid gone; the flowers 
appear upon the earth; the time of the singing of 
birds has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard 
in our land. ' ' Glorious resurrection of the new year! 

You perceive, therefore, this resurrection is uni- 
versal. This entire earth is one continued scene of 
birth, of growth, of death and resurrection. Thus 
the death of the worm signifies the resurrection of 
the beautiful butterfly; the death of the body, the 
resurrection of the immortal soul; the death of the 
corn, the resurrection of the beautiful sprout; the 
death of the day, the resurrection of the glorious 
morning; the death of the year, the rcKSurrection 

89 



of the glorious springtime. Death and the resurrec- 
tion are one and the same tiling precisely, viewed 
from different standpoints. Viewed from this earth, 
it is death; but viewed from that other world — the 
heavenly shore — it is the resurrection; the birth into 
that new world, that glorious hereafter. As is said 
in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7: "Or ever the silver cord be 
loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher 
be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at 
the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth 
as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who 



gave it." 



The beautiful sparrow which flies at large in space 
was once limited to the narrow confines of an egg, 
but by the word of God it burst that shell and found 
its home in this other world. It will never go back 
to that nauseous shell any more than our enfran- 
chised spirits w^ill return to these putrid bodies from 
which they emanated — and why should they? 

"Why should this worthless tegument enc^ure, 
If its undying guest be lost forever? 
O ! let us keep the soul embalmed and pure 
In living virtue ; that when both must sever, 
Although corruption may our frame consume; 
The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom." 

That this doctrine is beautiful all must concede; 
but that it means that these rotten bodies will get 
out of their graves some day and come forth, either 
as a natural body, a spiritual body, or any kind of a 
body, I most positively deny. These bodies, after 
the spirit has left them, are the most poisonous, rot- 

90 



ten, dangerous substances known. If left unburied, 
they would smell far worse than the body of any 
animal. You are obliged by law to bury them out 
of sight, where they cannot poison any one or do 
anybody any harm, and justly so. It will be seen, 
therefore, that this body, after the S])irit has left it, 
is the most worthless substance known. It never 
Avill be called for. It is fit only for food for worms. 
This doctrine of the resurrection, therefore, is 
entirely metaphorical. No such thing can ever take 
place literally, but through all nature we metaphor- 
ically see 

" Truth, love and mercy in triumph descending, 
And Nature all glowing in Eden's first Moom. 
On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, 
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.'' 



The subject of my next lecture will be "The 
End of the World," and when I come to speak on 
that subject I will show you why this wonderful 
resurrection, as taught by our clergy, never can take 
place. I will show you what must take place at the 
end of the world. I will show you (now don't be 
frightened) the day and the hour when this world 
will come to an end. Now, of course, you all believe 
I don't know when this world will come to an end; 
but when I come to show that I do know — to show 
you how I know — which I shall do, you will change 
your minds. I make this assertion fully realizing 
the Bible says: " Of that day and hour knoweth no 
man, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, 

91 



but the Father only"; and as I stand before 3^ou to 
expound these vast truths I feel as if I weighed a 
ton. I feel to exclaim as is said in Matthew 11:25 — 

"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'' 

And remember I am as much surprised that you 
don't know when this world will come to an end as 
3^ou are surprised that T do knoio^ so plainly is it 
written upon every object of God's creation. You 
who claim ability to open the great book of nature 
and read its contents should comprehend these prin- 
ciples, and there is some fun in it too; and the fun 
comes in just here. You who sneer to-night will 
then believe just what I tell you. All young people 
whose reasoning powers are free to act wall then be- 
lieve just what I say, and the reason will be it is so 
reasonable the}^ cannot help it. Come, therefore, and 
hear Avhat a babe will tell you about the end of the 
world. 



92 



LECTURE v.— THE END OF THE 
WORLD. 

Dear Friends and Nekiiibors: — 

I am ])leased to meet yon again in tliis haJl now 
tliorouglily dedicated to science. Superstition and 
bigotry are being exposed, and we behold Science 
tearing away many of the dear old landmarks which 
our fathers cheiished in the past. I have showai you 
on former occasions that the language of the Bible is 
largely metaphorical and figurative, and that with- 
out a thorough knowledge of this metaphorical lan- 
guage it is impossible to have any clear idea of the 
true meaning of the scriptures. I am here to-night 
to talk to you about the end of the world-r-that great 
day for which all other days were made; of that day. 
when the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, 
the elements melt with fervent heat and the earth 
pass away with a great noise. When the earth and 
all the works therein shall be burned up; and there 
shall be signs in the sun and in the moon; distress 
of nations, the sea and the waves roaring. When 
two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one 
shall be taken and the other left. ^'And then shall 
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and 
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds 
of heaven wdth power and great glory. And he shall 

93 



send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and 
they shall gather together his elect from the four 
winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. 
24:30-31.) 

The time of this great day has long been an un- 
known quantity; but the Saviour says: Now learn 
a parable of the fig tree; when his l)ranch is yet ten- 
der, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer 
is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these 
things, know that it is near, even at the doors." 

The first time set for the end of the world was 
about the close of the Tenth and beginning of the 
Eleventh Century. Tlie one thousand years spoken 
of by St. John, the Evangelist, were then supposed 
to be accomplished and the end of the world at hand. 
Many people — millions, in fact — relinquished their 
possessions, abandoned their friends and hurried with 
precipitation to the Holy Land, where they imagined 
Christ would quickly appear to judge the world. 
How these religious fanalics were brought to grief is 
patent to you all. 

The next great excitement about the end of the 
world which I shall notice was the advent of Miller- 
ism, about the year 1843. This great mathematician 
and scientist examined the prophecies of the prophet 
Daniel, and from the numbers therein quoted found 
that the end of the world would take place in 1843, 
and so careful and shrewd was his figuring, the great- 
est arithaieticians and mathematicians of both Eu- 
rope and America were unable to find an}'^ flaw in 
his reasoning. I was a boy then, but I saw it fre- 

94 



quently figured out on a blackboard, and it made a 
wonderful impression on me. The greatest excite- 
ment prevailed. The people gave themselves up to 
reading the Bible and religious exercises. Every 
Bible in the book stores at Ithaca was sold. Noth- 
ing else was preached. I remember it well. Many 
people did not plant their corn or potatoes that 
spring, so fully did they believe the, world would 
come to an end before they could harvest them. New 
England was a flame of excitement. Some of my 
friends at Newfield had ascension robes made and 
expected soon to be caught up to meet Jesus in the 
air. Pictures were posted showing His coming and 
the people getting out of their graves, etc. I being 
very young then, this period was the most exciting 
of my life. 

According to this precious doctrine, some so-called 
learned astronomers tell us that the sun is now in the 
throes of a great fever and wrestling with the perils 
of an immense eruption that threatens unknown and 
startling changes to some or all of the planets. They 
amuse themselves with speculations over its erratic 
moods and perplexing symptoms, and claim that a 
mild possibility of its convulsions will be a new 
planet shot into space in search of an orbit, and that 
our little world is as liable as any celestial traveler 
to be caught by the new rambler of the skies and 
reduced to '' ante lucem nebulse," or prehistoric de- 
bris. Or it may be given a new satellite for follow^- 
ing a straight and narrow way for the past five or ten 
million years. But possible changes in our solar 

95 



S3^stem, while they may be interesting to speculate 
over, are matters that our united wisdom will not 
modify and much less control. 

Lorenzo Dow, one of the brainiest men and finest 
preachers of his day, preached a sermon under a 
large tree, in Tennessee. Being very eccentric, he 
announced at the close of his sermon that he would 
preach again under that tree, "the Lord willing," 
one year from that day. The appointment was re- 
membered. He repaired to the place the day before 
the appointed time to see that all things under the 
tree were in readiness, and met there a darkey boy 
with a large horn. He was blowing the horn loudly 
and the sound seemed to reverberate over the hills 
for miles. He said, ''My bo}^, you have a fine horn 
there." 

"Yes, sir," said he; "I can make them hear 
that horn more than a mile." 

Said Dow: "What is ycur name, sir?" 

He said: " My name is Gabriel. They call me 
^Gabe,' for short." 

Said Dow: "That is very significant — Gabriel 
w^ith a horn." 

"Don't know, sir. My name might as well be 
Gabriel as anything." 

"Well," said Dow, "that means something. I 
want to make a bargain with you. Now, I am to 
preach under this tree to-morrow and I want to hire 
you to go up into that tree early in the morning wdth 
that horn. Be sure no one sees you. I shall preach 
a long sermon, and the moment I say 'Gabriel! ' I 

96 



want you to blow that horn and I will pay you so 
much money." 

"All right, sir." 

"Now," said Dow, "you understand. Set a 
short board against the tree, so I may know you are 
up there, and blow the horn only once." 

"All right, sir; I understand." 

When Dow arrived upon the ground the next day 
at the appointed time, he found a large congregation 
assembled. He saw the board against the tree, so 
he knew the darkey was up there all right. He 
preached one of his finest sermons; subject, "The 
Judgment Day and End of the World." Now at 
considerable trouble, some expense and sacrifice of 
personal convenience, I have procured a copy of that 
wonderful sermon preached by Dow on that occasion 
from which I propose to read a short extract (reads) : 

" Let us endeavor to realize the majesty and ter- 
ror of the universal alarm on the final Judgment Day. 
When the dead are sleeping in the silent grave; when 
the living are thoughtless and unapprehensive of the 
grand event, or intent on other pursuits; some of 
them asleep in the dead of night; some of them dis- 
solved in sensual pleasures, eating and drinking; 
marrying and giving in marriage; some of them plan- 
ning or executing schemes for riches or honors; some 
in the very act of sin; the generality stupid and care- 
less about the concerns of eternity, and the dreadful 
day just at hand; and a few here and there convers- 
ing with their God, and looking for the glorious ap- 
pearance of their Lord and Saviour; when the course 

97 



of nature runs on uniform and regular as usual, and 
infidel scoffers are taking umbrage from thence to 
ask, ' Where is the promise of His coming?' In short, 
when there are no more visible appearances of this 
approaching day than.-, of the destruction of Sodom 
on that clear morning in which Lot fled awa}^, or of 
the deluge, when Noah entered into the ark; then^ in 
that hour of unapprehensive security, then suddenly 
shall the heavens open over the ast')nished world ; 
then shall tlie alarming clangor break over their 
heads like a clap of thunder in a clear sky. 

" Immediately the living turn their gazing eyes 
upon the amazing phenomenon: some hear the long 
expected sound with rapture, and lift up their heads 
with joy, assured that the day of their redemption is 
come; while the thoughtless world are struck with 
the wildest horror and consternation. In the same 
instant the sound reaches all the mansions of the 
dead; and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
they are raised, and the living are changed. This 
call will be as animating to all the sons of men as 
that call to a single person, 'Lazarus, come forth.' 
what a surprise Avill this be to tlie thoughtless 
world! Should this alarm burst over our heads this 
moment, into what a terror would it strike many in 
this assembly! Such will be the terror, such the 
consternation, when it actually comes to pass. Sin- 
ners will be the same timorous, self-condemned creat- 
ures then as they are now. And then they will not 
be a]}le to stop their ears, who are deaf to all the 
gentler calls of the gospel now. 

98 



"Then the trump of God will constrain them to" 
hear and fear, to whom the ministers of Christ now 
preach in vain. Then they mnst all hear; for, 'all 
that are in their graves,' all without exception, 'shall 
hear his voice. ' Now^ the voice of mercy calls, reason 
pleads, conscience warns; but multitudes will not 
hear. But this is a voice which shall, which must 
reach every one of the millions of mankind, and not 
one of them will be able to stop his ears. Infants 
and giants, kings and subjects, all ranks, all ages of 
mankind shall hear the call. The living shall start 
and be changed, and the dead rise at the sound. The 
dust that was once alive and formed a human body, 
whether it flies in the air, floats in the ocean, or 
vegetates on earth, shall hear the new-creating fiat. 
Wherever the fragments of the human frame are scat- 
tered, this all-penetrating call shall reach and speak 
them into life. We may consider this voice as a sum- 
mons not only to dead bodies to rise, but to the souls 
that once animated them, to appear and be re-united 
to them. 

''This summons shall spread through every cor- 
ner of the universe; and heaven, earth, and hell, and 
all their inhabitants, shall hear and obey. Now me- 
thinks I see, I hear the earth heaving, charnel houses 
rattling, tombs bursting, graves opening. Now the 
nations under ground begin to stir. There is a noise 
and a shaking among the dry bones. The dust is all 
alive, and in motion, and the globe breaks and trem- 
bles, as wath an earthquake, w^hile this vast army is 
w^orking its way through, and bursting into life.'' 

99 



''Suppose that awful day should come at this 
moment. Scientific theologians tell us the scriptures 
are fulfilled and the time of the end of the world'isat 
hand. The Saviour said tlie gospel shall be preached 
in all the world for a witness and then shall the end 
come. Therefore the time muyt soon come when 
God shall send His angel to stand with one foot upon 
the sea and the other u})on tlie land, and mvear that 
time shall he no longer. 0! dear friends, are you 
prepared for tliat awful day? Suppose it should hap- 
])en to-day. Suppose you should at this moment 
hear the trumpet sound of the archangel Qahrid — '' 

The moment he said " Gabriel " that darkey 
blew that horn, according to agreemeut, and such a 
panic! Strong men fell to the earth, women fainted, 
children screamed. Dow looked' on complacently 
and saw them tumbling over each other, till at last 
quiet was partiallyrestored, and tliey found the world 
hadn't come to' an end, but this circumstanc^e was 
the commencement of one of the greatest revivals of 
religion ever known in Tennessee. In considering 
the end of the world and reflecting upon the awful 
phenomena that' must then take place, it is well to 
consider the position of this earth in our solar system 
and also its relative importance as compared with our 
sister planets. 

VVe find the sun is the great centre of our solar 
system; that Mercury is the first planet and nearest 
the sun. Probably no one here has ever seen this 
beautiful planet. It is called the shy planet because 
it is so seldom seen. It is redder than Mars and 

100 



looks larger and brighter than all, being nearer the 
sun. Venus, named from the goddess of Love and 
Beaut}^, is next. You are all familiar with this beau- 
tiful planet; it so frequently adorns our western sky. 
It is frequently called Hesperus, when evening star; 
also Vesper. Hence many churches have Vesper 
services, Vesper prayers. Vesper hymns and Vesper 
bells. The earth is the third and is the first planet 
which glories in a moon. Mars is the fourth ; is very 
red, and named from the god of War. Jupiter is 
the largest and brightest of all the planets, 1300 times 
larger than the earth. Its axis is not inclined to the 
plane of its orbit; hence there is no difference in its 
seasons. At its equator it has perpetual summer and 
at its poles everlasting winter. It revolves on its 
axis once in about ten hours; hence, being so large, 
the motion at its equator is very rapid. It has four 
moons, and our longitude at sea is reckoned more 
exactly from their eclipses than by any other method. 
Saturn is the next planet beyond Jupiter, 1100 times 
larger than the earth, and is adorned by seven moons 
and two bright rings which the ablest astronomers 
are unable to fully account for. Herschel is another 
planet beyond Saturn, eighty times larger than the 
earth, and attended by six moons or satellites. This 
solar system, viewed in all its glory, is intensely in- 
teresting. 

We know that this heavy earth swings in this 
balance by the dictate of an Almighty Power; that 
in its passage around the sun it moves at the rate of 
68,000 miles every hour — more than 1000 miles a 

101 



minute. Yet with all this intense velocity it carries 
the atmosphere with it, so we are not conscious of 
any motion; and it runs without the least wear or 
friction. The most delicate balances are adjusted 
perfectly, and so perfect are the laws by which it 
moves, Van Ettenville seems to stand here just 
w^here it did when I first knew it, sixty years ago. 
It doesn't seem to have moved an inch. The fact is, 
this earth was built to run until it wears out, and if 
it never begins to wear, when will it wear out and 
come to an end? Echo answers — "' Never! " 

Now, dear friends, I am pleased to-night to have 
the high privilege of announcing to you the great 
fact that this earth will never come to an end; that 
it will continue to exist while God exists. You will 
perceive, therefore, he who visits this earth 150,000 
years from to-day will find the old thing still herein 
perfect running order. It won't be worn a particle. 
It will show no signs of wear. The tire of its beau- 
tiful wheels won't begin to be cornered yet. It will 
have stood many million years and it will be good 
for many millions more. The little lambs will be 
skipping beside their dams as now. The cattle will 
still be lowing on the hillsides. People will knoio 
more then than they do now. Science will prevail. 
They won't tell you then that this earth was once 
covered with water five miles deep and drowned all 
its inhabitants. They won't tell you then that God 
made a man of mud and set him running, and that is 
the way the earth became inhabited. 



102 



In considering the end of the world and reflecting 
upon the awful phenomena that must then take 
place, it is well to consider the position of this earth 
in our solar system and also its relative importance 
as compared with our sister planets, and we fully 
realize the comparative insignificance of this little 
earth. In fact, it is so small as hardly to be sus- 
ceptible of comparison, so small as hardl\^ to be worth 
reckoning at all; yet, small as it is, a very valuable 
and desirable little piece of property. I wish I owned 
it. and I am not the only one that has w^anted the 
earth — there are others^ and some are so grasping 
and greedy they seem to think they will own it some 
day; but I don't think they ever will. But I have 
some good reasons to show wdiy I think I ought to 
own it; why I think it would be better off in my 
hands than in the hands of its present owner. One 
reason is, these holy preachers, who get their living 
by preaching, tell us that its present owner is going 
to bring it to an end: that he is going to destroy it — 
burn it up. 

Now if he is contemplating any such criminal 
horror as that, I think he is not fit to be trusted with 
the property. Now if I owned it I would never think 
of burning it up, cr bringing it to an end or destroy- 
ing it in any way. I should think a great deal of it. 
I should take good care of it. I would raise all the 
grain on it I could and endeavor to transmit it to my 
posterity unimpaired, just as good as w^hen I took it. 
I say this with the utmost reverence. I fully realize 
with yourselves that the earth is the Lord's, and 

103 



the fullness thereof. The sea is his and he made it, 
and the cattle upon a thousand liills. I take tliis 
course to show you that the Lord is not going to de- 
stroy it or hring it to an end in any way. I show 
you, therefore, that this earth, like its great Author, 
God, is eternal, and all those passages of scriptures 
that speak of the end of the world are metaphorical. 
They do not mean the literal ending of the w^orld. 
They sometimes mean the consummation of the age, 
sometimes the end of the Jewish dispensation; but 
in no place do they mean the literal ending of the 
world. I was surprised to find by careful examina- 
tion, while preparing this lecture, tliat the Bible no- 
where directly sa3^s that this world will eyer come to 
an end. It speaks about the end of the world. The 
Sayiour says: Go ye into all the world and preach 
the gospel to eyery creature, and lo! 1 am with you 
eyen unto "the end of the world." So I challenge 
the educated world to show a passage which says the 
world will eyer come to an end, except in metaphor- 
ical language; but it shows in many places that it 
W'ill not. Thus I read in Ecclesiastes: One genera- 
tion passeth away and another generation cometh; 
but the earth abideth foreyer. And again, in Psalms, 
it says the Lord has not only made the sun, moon 
and stars, but He has laid the foundations of this 
earth that it shall not be remoyed foreyer; and in 
many other places. You will perceiye, therefore, this 
earth sings the song of the babbling brook which Ten- 
nyson makes to say: — 



104 



*'I chatter, chatter, as I flow 
Toward the brimming river ; 
For men may come and men may go, 
But I go on forever." 

I show you, therefore, that this earth will never 
come to an end. I am pleased to announce this fact 
because this earth is very beautiful to me. I hate to 
to die and leave it. I cannot judge whether the 
scenes of earth seem lovelier to me than to most mor- 
tals — whether there is more ravishing beaut}^ in the 
springtime, more glory in summer, more richness 
and beauty in the autumn, more rest and whiteness 
in winter, more transcendent splendor in the sunset 
sky, and glory in the starlit heavens; but I realize the 
fact that the realms of nature lie open in boundless 
prospect above, beneath, and around us. As inhab- 
itants of this globe, we occupy but a small spot — the 
center, as it were, of the universe — that swarms with 
a countless variety of animated beings and contains 
endless sources of mental and moral dehghts. Order, 
harmony and beauty are so perfectly woven together 
and blended throughout nature as to form the mag- 
nificent robe she wears, and with which she not only 
charms and dazzles the eves of the beholder but con- 
ceals the overwhelming power and majesty of her 
person. As she moves, the most grand and awful 
impressions mark her footsteps on the globe's surface 
or centre, in air or ocean. She smiles in the gentle- 
ness of the calm and frowns in the fury of the storm; 
but whether universal silence reigns, whether earth- 
quakes rumble or thunders roll, she keeps on her 
mighty course, unaffected by the revolution of ages. 

105 



And now, dear boys and girls, that you may ever 
have correct views of the end of the world is my 
most earnest wish. I therefore tell you these things 
because I love you. That this doctrine, false as it is, 
is shamelessly preached from our pulpits is shown 
bj^ the following extract from one of Talmage's 
printed sermons. He says, when that great day 
shall come the soul or spirit will come down and 
peer into these graves and exclaim, '' Where is my 
body?" The body will look up and exclaim, ^ 'Where 
is my soul?" The two must be united. 

'' Ballot-boxes and gubernatorial chairs and con- 
tinents will smoke in the final conflagration, but 
those who love God and do their best shall come to 
lustrous dominion after the stars have ceased their 
shining, and the ocean has heaved its last billow, 
and the closing thunder of the Judgment Day shall 
toll at the funeral of a w^orld. Oh, prepare for that 
day!" 

You see, therefore, so universal is this belief in 
the end of the world, if I had a darkey concealed up 
a tree with a big horn I could scare the people al- 
most to death. 

I told you, when speaking of the resurrection, 
that when I came to speak of the end of the w^orld I 
would show you why the resurrection as preached 
from our pulpits never could take place. The reason 
is now apparent. The time never will come. The 
last day of this earth never will get here; conse- 
quently this resurrection and terrible day of judg- 
ment will have to go by default. But I came here 

106 



to tell yoa the day and the hour when this world 
will come to an end. I will now keep my promise. 
Take out your pencils and paper and wTite it down 
so you will always know. The trouble is, the time 
is so far distant, so vast, you can have no conception 
of it; so you will be no better off after I have told 
3^ou. It will be a consolation to you, how^ever, to 
know that it will not take place in your day or mine 
or in the 40,000th generation after us. But this earth 
will come to an end the same day and the same hour 
that God coines to an end; so all you who believe 
that this perfect God — this Infinite God that I wor- 
ship — will conje to an end may believe that this 
world will, for both are alike eternal. 

Concerning this word "infinite" — what does it 
mean? Infinity, infinity! Who can comprehend 
infinity? Certainly not the finite mind. Who will 
give a definition? I cannot define it, but allow me 
to approximate a definition. It is that which is so 
great that nothing can be added to it. It is also that 
which is so great that nothing can be supposed to be 
added to it. The farthest stretch of the human im- 
agination cannot suppose anything to be added to 
infinity. • , , . - 

Thisearthwill exist to infinity. Seeing, there- 
fore, that this earth will last so long, and our lives 
are so short, certain reflections arise consequent upon 
this new doctrine. First, doesn't it seem^ that the al- 
lotted life of man should be one hundred instead of 
seventy years? We hardly stay upon this earth long 
enough to make our mark upon it. AVe should en- 

107 



deavor by strict adherence to the laws of health to 
prolong our Uves to the greatest possible extent. 
But when you come to understand this doctrine 
clearly you w^ill be ready to sing with me that beau- 
tiful hymn : — 

*' When we've been there ten thousand years. 
Blight shining as the sun, 
We've no less days 1o sing God's praise 
Than when we first begun." 

So, after living our allotted time and enjoying as 
much earthly happiness as w^e can reasonably expect, 
we are only ready to exclaim: — 

vain and inconstant world! 

fleeting and transient life! 

When will the sons of men learn to think of thee 
as they ought? 



108 



LECTURE VI.— A BURNING HELL. 

Accept, dear friends, the truths I teach, 
So you may live beyond the reach 
Of adverse fortune's power. 

We live in a remarkable age of the world — ^an age 
remarkable for its vast discoveries, for its wonderful 
developments in knowledge — developments which 
are giving us great control over the material world, 
almost annihilating time and space. At one moment 
discoveries obtrude upon our notice in a gentle light; 
at another, the}^^ burst forth with the most brilliant, 
meteoric glare, dazzling us with their splendor and 
awakening profound anticipations of the future. 
Even now, so much more can we achieve than we 
could have done fifty years ago, that life seems al- 
most to have doubled in value in that period. And 
we find at this close of the Nineteenth Century, with 
its marvelous achievements, progress in culture and 
refinement, unprecedented growth in national great- 
ness, the trend of the age is toward larger liberty 
in everything — conduct, trade, invention, politics, 
thought, theories, religion and action. The spirit of 
progress is abroad everywhere and the restraints 
which prevailed in past ages are being cast aside. In 
no department of life is the hand of science and im- 
provement more apparent than in the discovery of 

109 



the symbolic or metaphorical sense of the Bible. I 
have shown you on former occasions that the true 
metaphorical sense of the Bible is like a treasure 
hidden in a field, only to be found by diligent delv- 
ing; that it is to be found by washing in this precious 
pool of Siloam, that your eyes may be opened, that 
j^ou may be able to discern spiritual things. 

I am here this evening to talk to you about a 
burning hell — that terrible lake of fire and brimstone 
prepared for the punishment of the wicked. That 
such a place exists seems to be showni by the literal 
sense of the Bible, for we read God is angry with the 
wicked ever}^ day; that the wicked shall be turned 
into hell w^ith all the nations that forget God. Also, 
fear not him who destroyeth the body and after that 
hath no power, but rather fear Him w^ho hath power 
to destroy both soul and body in hell. And again: 
In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and 
seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosonj, 
and he cried and said, " Father Abraham, have 
mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the 
tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I 
am tormented in this flame"; and again, ''AVho 
shall say ' Thou fool ' shall be in danger of hell fire. " 
Again: All fearful, unbelieving, abominable, sor- 
cerers, idolators, and all liars shall have their part in 
the lake that burneth with fire and l)rimstone, and 
shall have no rest neither day nor night, and the 
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and 
ever, which is the second death. And again: De- 



110 



part, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the 
devil and his angels. 

Thus, you see, the literal sense of the Bible is 
sufficient to give you an idea of this burning hell. 
A few descriptions of it, as it was preached to me in 
my childhood, ran like this: It was represented as 
boiling oil, burning brimstone; a river of fire, broader 
than the earth. Tongue, lungs, liver, bones and all 
shall boil and fry in torturing fire. 0! the screeches 
and yells there will be in hell. See on the middle 
of that red-hot floor stands a young girl. She looks 
about 16 years old. Her feet are bare. She has 
neither shoes nor stockings. Listen! She speaks. 
She says: "I have been standing on this red-hot 
floor for years. Day and night my only standing 
place has been this red-hot floor. Look at my burnt 
and bleeding feet. Let me get off this burning floor 
for one moment — only one single moment." 

Another dungeon is the boiling kettle. In the 
middle of it there is a boy. His eyes are burning 
like two burning coals. Long flames come out of his 
ears. When he opens his mouth, blazing fire rolls 
out. But listen! There is a sound like a boiling 
kettle. The blood is boiling in the scalded veins of 
that boy. The brain is boiling in his head. The 
marrow is boiling in his bones. 

Next is the red-hot oven. A boy is in this red- 
hot oven. Hear how he screams to come out. See 
how he turns and twists himself in the fire. He 
beats himself against the walls of the oven. He 
stamps his feet on the floor. God was very good to 

111 



this boy. Very likely God saw he would get worse 
and w^orse, and would never repent, and so he would 
have to be punished niuch more in hell. So God in 
his mercy called him out of the world in his early 
childhood. 

Dante's ^'Inferno" gives blood-curdling descrip- 
tions of this burning hell too horrible to relate to 
sensitive people. Likewise Milton' s ' ' Paradise Lost ' ' 
and Pollok's '' Course of Time," and all is summed 
up by saying: — 

"Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, 
A voice of brass and adamantine lungs, 
Not half the mighty scene could I discJose, 
Report their pains or tell their dreadful woes." 

Is it any wonder that people, after hearing such 
stories from the sacred pulpit under the solemnities 
of preaching, become crazed and commit suicide? Is 
it any wonder that mothers, in moments of frenzy, 
murder their children, hoping thereby to avert the 
horror? Such preaching is dangerous in these days 
of nervous excitement when people's brains are 
wrought up to the highest pitch, and as a conse- 
quence we find our old men are dreaming dreams 
and our young men are seeing visions. I feel, there- 
fore, like saying to the people who listen to such 
horrid preaching as was said to Lot when fleeing from 
burning Sodom: " Escape for thy life; look not l)e- 
hind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape 
to the mountain, lest thou be consimwd.^^ But " tlie 
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." If 
such preaching constitutes the fear of the Lord we 

112 



can readil}^ appreciate the truth of the saying of the 
medical expert who said, "The fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of insanity." 

Now as I reflect upon this terrible punishment of 
the wicked I am very happy. You may think it 
strange that I should be happy over this horror. But 
let me tell you why I am happy. I am happy be- 
cause I love these dear children. I love your bright 
eyes. I love to see your intelligent foreheads. I 
love to address your reasoning powers. I wish to 
write my name in letters of kindness upon the tab- 
lets of your hearts. I wish you nothing but success, 
and loving you as I do, I am happy because I can 
say to you — and say to you of a truth — I feel that I 
am commissioned of the most high God to sa}^ to you, 
There is no burning hell. God never made any such 
place. The scriptures don't mean any such thing. 
This whole story of a burning hell is so big a lie I 
have no patience to talk about it. I can not look 
upon it with the least degree of allowance. 

Now, dear friends, I am going to explain to you 
this burning hell. I trust I shall do it in a learned 
way. I shall do it in a scientific way. I am not 
egotistical when I say this, for I think it does not 
require great learning or many brains to explain 
what the Bible means by this burning hell. 

I shall explain it also in a very laughable way, 
and please don't laugh till I get through, for I want 
to laugh with you. Now, dear friends, we are going 
to have a jolly laugh over this burning hell that 
preachers are so kind to tell us about. But we must 

113 



not laugh too soon. Those laugh best who laugh last. 
If we should laugh too soon, and then find out after 
all there is a burning hell, and we should happen to 
get into it, we would be sorry we laughed. But we 
are going to have an intelligent laugh. We are going 
to laugh last. 

In order to explain it clearly, it will be necessary 
for us to go back to the days of our youth, to our 
days of love-making, and permit me to say in this 
connection love rules the world. It has universal 
dominion over the things of earth. It is the most 
powerful incentive to action known. It laughs at 
laws and locksmiths. It rules the court, the camp, 
the grove. Its story is as old as Adam, and yet it is 
as new and as sweet to-day as the blushing maiden 
of sixteen. 

What do you suppose is the grand stimulus to 
man in all his fatigues, his exposures, his dangers, 
his toils and his privations, in the field, in the work- 
shop, in the camp, on the stormy ocean, by night, 
by day, even facing the cannon's mouth? What 
cheers the student in his long nights of study, wasted 
by untiring toil? What sustains the mariner in his 
long and perilous nights at sea? In fine, what sus- 
tains man in all his innumerable exposures and em- 
ployments, sacrificing his ease and often his life? It 
is love — his love for his chosen one, his wife, his 
mother, his sisters, his daughters. To adorn them, 
he traverses the earth, bringing home diamonds, ru- 
bies, pearls and costly gems. He seeks the plumage 
of the most rare birds. He devises stuffs of the softest 

114 ' 



texture, of the richest and rarest colors. He laj^s all 
at their feet, and finds in their acceptance, their 
smiles, and their blandishments, his happiest re- 
wards. 

In our youthful days of love-making, when in 
pursuit of the object of our affections, if she repelled 
our advances and treated us with indifference, we 
say she treated us coldly, turned to us the cold shoul- 
der. Perhaps you all know what it is to get the cold 
shoulder. Hence this metaphorical definition — cold- 
ness means indifference or hatred. Please mark the 
definition. On the other hand, if she treated us 
kindly, encouraged our attentions, seemed pleased to 
see us, and made it pleasant for us, so we staid some 
time — which was all right — we say she received us 
w^armly. Hence this second definition — warmth 
means friendship. Now I wish to go a step farther 
and give you a third definition, but I hardly know 
how to proceed, for I fear some evil-minded persons 
might try to garble my explanation and place it in a 
bad light, but the definition being very important I 
shall proceed, even at the risk of being considered 
slightly voluptuous, and in doing this I promise not 
to say a word which should offend the ear of the 
most fastidious lady. Now if the object of our affec- 
tions received us "dery warmly, gave us vigorous em- 
braces and smothered us with kisses, we would say 
she manifested a heat or fire of passion (love is hot 
stuff, you know); we would know the tender passion 
or fire of love was present. Now I am not saying 
this in disparagement of any respectable or intelli- 

115 



gent lady, but there are those wlio don't en re and 
give a loose rein to passion. Hence this third (iefi- 
nition. Fire means love; so, you perceive, coldness 
means hatred. Warmth means friendship and fire 
means love, and when you comprehend clearly these 
three definitions you will know more about the Bible 
than you ever dreamed of knowing in all your lives, 
and when I show you that fire means love I show 
you that love is as powerful as fire itself. 

It is said that when the wealthy blue-blooded 
Vanderpools came to New York City from Germany 
in the early settlement of this country, one of their 
sons fell in love with an Indian maiden. His par- 
ents were deeply humiliated by this misplaced affec- 
tion and tried every way to separate them — even 
pursued them when they eloped and followed them 
to the Susquehanna river, and there thought they 
had secured them. But this plucky couj^e plunged 
into the river and swani across. They could then 
laugh at their pursuers, embrace each other, and in 
this way keep love's fire burning. They were filled 
with that unquenchable fire of love which water could 
not extinguish. You will therefore perceive the 
power of this passion. Perhaps the best illustration 
of this last definition — that fire means love — is the 
account of Moses and the burning bush. This illus- 
tration is indeed beautiful. Again in Ezekiel 28:14 
it says. Thou hast walked u]) and down in the 
midst of the stones of fire. Now does that mean you 
walked up and down a field and f(Hmd the stones red 
hot? Far from it. Stones mean truths. Adam and 

IIG 



Eve had precious stones in Eden. They had bdelli- 
mer, the onyx stone, etc., simply meaning they had 
precious truths. They surely could not have had 
finely cut diamonds in that early day. Now I have 
shown that fire means love, and if stones mean 
truths, to walk up and down in the midst of the 
stones of fire means to walk up and down amid the 
truths of love. How beautiful! 

Again : The Saviour says to Peter, Thou art Pe- 
ter, and on this rock will I build my church and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now the 
word Peter means a rock or stone, hence he meant 
that his church should be built on the foundation 
rock of truth — that church which hath foundations 
whose builder and maker is God. Again, in Mala- 
chi, we read: Behold the day cometh that shall burn 
as an oven and the proud, yea, all that do wickedly 
shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn 
them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor 
branch. Now, dear children, when you read that 
scripture ''don't be frightened.'' This fire will not 
hurt you. It is only the fire of God's love which 
burns up every thing in you that is wicked, impure, 
sinful or unholy and makes you clean and pure in- 
deed. 

Again it is said in Psalms, He maketh his minis- 
ters a flaming fire. Again He says: I, the Lord, 
will be unto her (i. 6., His church) a wall of fire 
round about; and again says He will baptize with 
the Holy Spirit and with fire. What further proofs 
do we require that fire means love? None, surely, 

117 



for God is love. Again: The rich man also died 
and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and 
Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father 
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that 
he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool 
my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Now 
what kind of flame was this man in? He certainly 
was not in the kind of flame that blisters the skin or 
makes it sore. 

To illustrate: A few years ago the Christian En- 
deavor Society of this State met at Madison Square 
Garden in New York City. An immense meeting. 
People were there from all parts of the State. It is 
said to have been a very happy meeting to one young 
lady, for she chanced to meet there an old flame of 
hers that she had not seen for years, and as she 
talked with him the old flame began to burn again, 
and they were tormented in that flame, and it finally 
got so hot they could scarcely endure it. So, as a 
sovereign balm for this terrible burning, he proposed 
matrimony and she, being equally tormented, was 
only too glad to say yes. So they closed the bargain 
at once and jumped together into the sea of matri- 
mony, and started direct upon their wedding tour. 
So with this rich man in hell. He had nothing to 
do while on earth but wear fine clothes, fare sumptu- 
ously every day and court pretty girls. The girls all 
liked him. Surely in his lifetime he received his 
good things. He was probably the author of that 
beautiful couplet: — 

118 



" O ! the happiest life that ever was led 
Is always to court and never to wed.'' 

But at last he came in contact with a lady that re- 
sisted his approaches. Beini^ unaccustomed to such 
treatment, he was nonplused, and finding his ad- 
vances useless was crazed. He thought of getting a 
rope to hang himself (unrequited love, you know, is 
a frequent cause of suicide). But finally he thought 
of poor Lazarus and cried, Father Abraham, have 
mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the 
tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, for I am 
tormented in this flame. 

Now Father Abraham wasn't green himself in 
these matters. He had a very beautiful wife him- 
self and he knew, as I have shown you, that if all 
the water in the mighty Susquehanna river wouldn't 
extinguish the unquenchable fire of love burning in 
two foolish bosoms, of course the little drop that 
Lazarus could carry on the tip of his finger wouldn't 
do any good at all. It wouldn't make the first track. 
So, it is said a burnt child dreads the fire. But this 
isn't true; the fact is, a person that has been once 
burnt in this kind of fire is always fooling wdth fire 
and is never satisfied till he is burnt again. So you 
see there is true philosophy in this language of get- 
ting burnt. So Father Abraham thought even to 
send Lazarus with water enough to cool him off 
would do no good, for he knew if another pretty wo- 
man came along he would be right in another flame 
with her, and what would be the use of getting him 
out of one flame just to see him plunge into another? 

119 






So he got rid of him the easiest way he could, told 
him he couldn't spare Lazarus, and besides there was 
a great gulf fixed and Lazarus couldn't get across. 

Now if there wasn't any gulf there Father Abra- 
ham didn't prevaricate any more then than when he 
said his wife was his sister. I have always thought 
Father Abraham would have got along just as well 
if he hadn't told that falsehood; but I suppose he 
thought the danger to his life justified him in any 
means to save it. But at last he hit on a happy ex- 
pedient by which he could transport his beautiful 
wife through the country and have no prying eyes 
peering at her, and avoid the danger of being mur- 
dered on her account. So he just placed her in a box 
and transported her from place to place as merchan- 
dise. Even this expedient came near getting him 
into trouble, for as he came to the boundary line of 
another kingdom duty was demanded. So they asked 
him what was in that box; but he declined to tell, 
and said ''Charge what yoa please and I will pay 
it." But they said the box was heavy and might 
contain diamonds, and they must know what was in 
it to satisfy their government. So they opened the 
box and behold! out popped that beautiful woman. 
That settled the tariff question at once, and the le- 
gend says her beauty w^as so great it actually illumi- 
nated the whole land of Egypt. 

Now this story is not in the Bible but it is in 
Bible history, which ought to be just as true as the 
Bible itself. It shows us that Father Abraham had 
aflame of his own, ''knew^how it was himself," and 

120 



therefore didn't think it necessary to send Lazarus 
with water to cool that poor rich man. 

This signification of the word fire gives rise to 
many common forms of expression. Thus w^e say a 
man is inflamed by anger, warmed by love, heated 
by controversy and cooled by reflection. Animated 
by the glow of philanthropy, and becomes torpid as 
love grows cold; and these mental changes are often 
plainly perceived and correspondingly indicated by 
the blushes or paleness of the countenance and the 
warmth or coldness of the skin. 

Now, dear friends, I feel happy to-night because 
I can say to you there is no burning hell. The 
scriptures don't mean any such thing. It is a doc- 
trine so monstrous, so fraught with evil, that had it 
not been promulgated and originated in the dark 
ages, had it not been handed down to us by tradi- 
tion, had we not fairly imbibed it with our mothers' 
milk, it never could have been received at all. It 
never could have gained a foothold on this fair earth. 

How vividly the recollections of my youth come 
up before me to-night. I remember, when a mere 
lad, an old neighbor was laboring with me in the 
field, and he thought to lighten our labor by a little 
useful conversation. So he said, "My boy, do you 
suppose you know how to judge men?" I said, " I 
don't suppose I do." Had I understood things then 
as I do now I should have said " No^" I do not. 
To be a good judge of men is the gift of the greatest 
minds, for 



121 






*' Man is practiced in disguise, 
He cheats the most discerning eyes ; 
And pride oft guides the author's pen. 
Bool?:s as affected are as men ; 
But he who studies nature's laws 
From certain trutli his maxims draws." 

'^ Well," said he, "if you will show me a man's 
dog and allow me to observe its actions I will tell 
you what kind of man he is. If that dog is snarl- 
ing, cross and ill-natured, you will find his master 
very much like him; but if the dog is kind and 
pleasant and agreeable, the master will be that way 
also." 

There is something in that idea. I believe our 
treatment of our domestic animals largely controls 
their dispositions. I believe whipping children be- 
gets in them terrible dispositions, and I have always 
strenuously opposed it, and I am pleased to-night to 
be able to say to you that with the spread of intelli- 
gence this barbarous practice is being rapidly ban- 
ished from our land. Very few intelligent people 
now days whip their children. I think I can safely 
say no educated person does it. I wish my voice on 
this subject could be heard by every parent in Chris- 
tendom. We should realize 

"Our babes shall richest comfort bring ; 
If tutored right they'll prove a spring 

Whence endless pleasures rise. 
We'll form their minds with studious care 
To all that's manly, good and fair. 

And train them for the skies." 

But I can improve largely on the old gentleman's 

122 



idea, and will say, if you will tell me the kind of 
God a man worships I will tell you what kind of 
man he is. A man who believes in a burning hell is 
a wicked, revengeful man. He reasons in this w^ay: 
If an enemy of mine injures me or crosses my path 
and I get the power, I would set my heel on his 
neck; I would grind him to the earth. T would 
show him no mercy. I would roast him in eternal 
fire. Consequently I believe God would do the same 
thing. 

Therefore the man who believes in a burning hell 
is a wicked man, a man of cruelty, of violence and 
blood. His very dreams are of murder^ rapine and 
conflagration. He is unfit to associate with decent 
people. I don't even want his children to play in 
my back yard. All I want is the privilege of saying, 
Get behind me, Satan. I therefore pity those people 
who believe in a burning hell. They are shut up 
wdth their own gloomy reflections. 

They see no wonders in creation, 
No majesty in the stars, 
No beauty in the sunset, 
No sweetness in flowers, 
No melody in song. 

They contemplate nothing with complacency but 
some instrument of torture, some dark, burning hell. 
But educated ministers to-day are a little cautious 
about preaching these horrors. They seem to real- 
ize that people are becoming too intelligent to believe 
them — to believe that God is such an awful being. 
Still this doctrine is held in abeyance to be preached 

123 



to women and children when they don't pay the 
preacher sufficiently. 

Now, why is the teaching of this beautiful meta- 
phorical sense of the Bible opposed? The opposition 
has come mainly from the clergy. The layman has 
seen, or heard, and has been convinced, hence the 
wonderful acquisition to our numbers in all ranks of 
life. Not so, however, with the clergy. Few, in- 
deed, have come from clerical ranks. They fought 
its teachings from the beginning. They fight it now. 
They will still continue to do so, and why? 

The answer to this profound question is a simple 
one. There was no hell of endless tortures awaiting 
the believer in the new faith. There was no devil to 
be held responsible for man's wickedness, or to pun- 
ish him for his crimes. There were no purgatorial 
fires from which escapes could be made by priestly 
prayers. The entire revenue of the church would be 
cut off without these i)0werful auxiliary aids to a 
good life. The priests and their counterpart, the 
clergy, would find their occupation gone, and their 
revenue would go with it. These poor men, edu- 
cated for the pulpit and unfitted by long years of 
preparation for any field of usefulness, must neces- 
sarily cry up their old wares for the market, else 
they will remain dead stock on their hands. 

It is good for them to be so very anxious about 
human souls; but in spite of early education we 
can't forget the fable of the rat and her young. Once 
there was an old rat who had reared a large family, 
so runs the fable. She called her youthful progeny 

124 



about her and told them in pathetic terms of the 
great love she bore them, but knowing she was mor- 
tal she had determined to withdraw from the busy 
scenes of life and give her sole attention to prepara- 
tion for the great change that awaited her. She ex- 
horted her young in regard to their duties to each 
other and to the world; then with many tears and 
assurances of abiding love, she bade them an affec- 
tionate farewell. The historian neglected to tell how 
her solemn admonitions were received b}^ the young 
rats; but forbidding them to follow, the mother took 
her sorrowful leave of the world and its many cares. 
Weeks passed. The little rodents were skirmishing 
around for food to supply their necessities. Concealed 
at the back of a high shelf they found a fine cheese. 
Availing themselves of favorable opportunity, they 
visited it in a body. Seeking to find a good place 
for attack, so the owner should not discover that 
they had been there, they found in its rear, close to 
the wall, a small . opening, and the}^ then proposed 
an ingress. But, lo! their maternal ancester sud- 
denlj^ appeared and protested against their advances 
on her sacred retreat. Indeed, she chided them for 
following her, and was deaf to their piteous appeals 
to enter and embrace her. She even told them it 
was not for love of her they wished to come in, but 
their greater love was centered in the cheese. 

So with the clergy. Were it not for the " cheese' ' 
we apprehend the purgatorial fires would be permit- 
ted to die out, the devil would disappear and possi- 
bly the preachers, now intent on soul-saving, would 

125 



be in a condition to give honest consideration to the 
teachings of anything savoring of a hght of the future 
state. 

When we compute the value of all the church 
property in this nation, in our large cities, villages 
and hamlets; also the immense amount paid the 
clergy as salaries yearly and the amount paid mis- 
sionaries, we realize this church cheese is of im- 
mense proportions, and we don't blame them for 
fighting for their bread and butter. The fact is, the 
clergy have got hold of this ministerial teat and are 
sucking it for all it is worth. 

For thousands of years they have held sway over 
the people of this earth, and down through the ages 
we see dynasties rise and fall, republics come and go, 
empires laid waste and nations devastated by war, 
but they still blow their fog-horns and retain their 
power, and notwithstanding our education and en- 
lightenment we still find ourselves haunted by the 
grossest superstitions. Spurgeon, the great London 
preacher, who preached to the w^ealthiest, largest, 
most refined and most highly educated congregations 
in the world, says, in one of his published sermons, 
the fire in hell is natural fire, but still says it is un- 
quenchable and claims that our bodies are trans- 
formed by a scientific process into a substance re- 
sembling asbestos or isinglass, so that fire can have 
no impression on them, and we can be roasted in red- 
hot fire to all eternity and never burn up. 

Now I believe one of the first lessons that chil- 
dren should be taught is that w^ater puts out fire. 

126 



This knowledge will be useful to tliem throughout 
their lives. If Spurgeon had understood this great 
chemical fact he never would have preached to his 
congregation that hell-fire was natural fire and yet 
unquenchable — that water wouldn't put it out — - 
probably only through fear of exposure. Don't think 
he would scruple to preach anything that would ad- 
vance his own selfish interest. 

Now, the fact is, heil is one of the finest coun- 
tries in all God's universe. The climate is perfectly 
delightful. It is just warm enough to be comfort- 
able and just cool enough to be agreeable. The air 
is perfectable salubrious. It doesn't even smell of 
brimstone. It would be one of the finest countries 
to live in in all God's universe were it not for the 
cursed inhabitants; yet fine as the country is, I do 
not advise you to go there, for after all hell is just as 
the Bible says it is — '' red hot." It burns w^ith the, 
love of deviltry. That is where the love comes in. 
Just as soon as the people there are through with one 
piece of deviltry they are right into another. There 
is no let up. For instance, you would never get any 
sleep there. You would not be allowed to sleep. 
You would be perfect h^ worn out. So the smoke of 
your torment would ascend up forever and ever, 
which is the second death. When you come to un- 
derstand clearly that the word fire means love you 
will be qualified to sing with me that beautiful hymn: 

"Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, 
With all Thy quickening powers, 
Kindle a flame — " 

127 



(Now what kind of flame is that? It mu^t be fire — 

it has to be kindled.) 

" — of sacred love 
In these cold hearts of ours." 

So you perceive this burning hell is entirely meta- 
phorical. No such place exists literally. 

The incident which I now relate is actually true. 
It happened in this village and is not fabricated for 
this occasion. A few years ago I was walking up 
toward the school-house and saw two bright-eyed 
little girls, apparently seven or eight years old, sit- 
ting on the sidewalk. As I approached them one 
little girl ran away and the other commenced to cry 
piteously. There is something about the crying of 
a child that completely unnerves me. I can scarcely 
endure it. So I said, '' Darling, what is the matter?" 

She said: ''Oh, pa! I didn't mean to be naughty, 
but that little girl said I was, and said ' Now you 
can't go to heaven when you die; you will have to 
go to that burning hell.' " 

My righteous indignation knew no bounds. Where 
did that child get that idea of a burning hell? Did I 
teach it to her? God forbid! Did her mother teach 
it to her? I don't believe she did. Did she learn it 
at Sabbath-school? If she did I would want to curse 
every Sabbath-school that ever was taught. My be- 
lief is she learned it from her mates, accompanied 
by the hellish preaching we have now days? I told 
her she need not fear that burning hell. Pa would 
take care of her. So I told her as nice a little story 
as I could think of and left her smiling through her 

128 



tears. Now I think any minister who frightens chil- 
dren by telHng such stories from the sacred desk, 
under the solemnities of preaching, should be con- 
sidered a criminal, should be burned in effigy and 
driven from his parish in disgrace. Why should 
beautiful, innocent children be thus tormented b)^ 
visions of an angry God and a burning hell? Why not 
allow them to go to school and "con" their lessons, 
happy and free as the air of heaven which kisses 
them with its delightful breezes? 

So we ought to love God and praise Him because 
He has not made any burning hell. Remember, all 
God's works praise Him. The beautiful purling 
brook that murmurs among the smooth pebbles, dis- 
coursing heavenly music, praises God. The beauti- 
ful green carpet of verdure which covers the earth 
praises Him. The waving grass and grain upon the 
hillside praise Him. The beautiful green trees which 
we behold praise Him. The beautiful birds which 
warble in their branches praise Him. Think of 
those beautiful birds — those song birds — which al- 
most split their little throats singing praise to God. 
Who does not love those beautiful birds? Who is 
not ready to exclaim: — 

" Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green, 

Thy sky is ever clear. 
Thoti hast no sorrow in thy song, 

No winter in thy year. 
O ! could I fly I'd fly with thee, 

We'd make with joyful wing 
Our annual visit o'er the globe, 

Companions of the spring." 

129 • 



But above all do the sun, moon and stars praise 
Him. I arose a few iiiorninos ago several hours be- 
fore sunrise and saw those beautiful niornino' stars. 
There were Venus and' Jupiter, Arcturus, and those 
fine constellations, Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Orion, 
and many others, very bright. I stopped in amaze- 
ment to view these beautiful orbs of the sky. '' When 
I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the 
moon and the stars which Thou hast made, what is 
man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of 
man, that Tliou regardest him?" It reminded me of 
the time spoken of by the prophet, when the morn- 
ing stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted 
for joy, and they were still singing and this was their 



song:- 



" What though in solemn silence all 
Move 'round this dark, terrestrial ball. 
What though no real voice nor sound 
'Midst all the radiant orbs b»^ found. 
To reason's ear they all rejoice 
And utter forth a glorious voice, 
Forever singing as they shine : 
The Hand that made us is divine." 

Will you not therefore praise Him? AVill you not 

sing with me: — 

"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath, 
And when my voice is lost in death 
Praise shall employ my nobler powers.'' 

So, dear friends, rejoice with me. Make a glad 
noise. Shout the glad tidings. 

" Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea, 
Jehovah has triumphed- Messiah is free !'' 

130 • 



LECTURE VIL— AN ILLUSTRATION 
OF THE METAPHORICAL SENSE 
OF THE BIBLE. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

My object in addressing you to-night is to com- 
pare the hteral sense of the scriptures as taught by 
our common clergy with the true metaphorical sense. 
For this purpose I introduce a sermon as preached 
by one of our learned divines in its literal sense and 
follow it by an illustration from the same text by a 
divine who abides in the true metaphorical sense of 
the word. First the literal sense from the text, Gen- 
esis 29:11:— 

"And Jact^b kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and 
wept." 

When we compare ourselves with the patriarchs 
of olden times we are apt to conclude, and must ad- 
mit, that we fall far short of their attainments. We 
seem to be beings of inferior rank and almost incapa- 
ble of arriving at their perfections; but this is partly 
a mistake, and in my forthcoming discourse I shall 
endeavor to show that we bipeds of the present day 
are as well versed in the usages and conventionalities 
of society as were the venerated sages of antiquity. 

I propose, therefore, to divide my text into two 

131 



parts. First, to dilate on the words, '^And Jacob 
kissed Rachel," and secondly, to consider the words, 
^'and lifted up his voice, and wept." Therefore, in 
conformity to the proposed plan, I claim your atten- 
tion in the first place to Jacob's act of kissing Rachel. 
Now, extraordinary as you may think it, some phi- 
losophers pretend to consider kissing as a science by 
itself; and that kissing gracefully is an art not to be 
acquired but through diligent study, which, I am 
free to confess, has not been improved to the same 
extent as have other arts and sciences since the day 
of Jacob. His case is the first on actual record of 
this art or science being impressed on the lips, and, 
no doubt, on the mind of the fair recipient. Now 
the question arises. Where, or from whom, did Jacob 
acquire the knowledge of this science? 

Dr. C tells us this word is derived from a 

jaw-breaking Hebrew^ syllable known in Ireland long 
before the time of the patriarchs and still to be seen 
in a worm-eaten dictionary in Dublin University. 
My own opinion, which I beg to intrude on you, is, 
that it originated in the Garden of Eden soon after 
Adam awoke out of his deep sleep and found one of 
his ribs gone. 

Having thus disposed, as I hope, to your satis- 
faction of the first division of my text, I again crave 
your attention to the illustration of the second divis- 
ion, viz.: "And lifted up his voice, and wept." 
Now, my beloved hearers, various commentators 
have entered the field of criticism and attempted to 
explain why and w^herefore "Jacob wept." That I 

132 



may not willingly offend, or be deemed partial, I 
shall recite the opinions of such learned searchers 
after truth as I have been able to find, and I remain 
open to conviction should others come forward here- 
after to controvert what I have already gleaned from 
various quarters on this important subject. 

One writer in our periodical essay says: ''If 
Rachel was a pretty girl and kept her face clean, we 
cannot see that Jacob had much to cry about.'* 

Another female commentator says: "The cause 
of Jacob's weeping was Rachel's refusing to allow 
him to kiss her again.'' 

Another editor says: ''It is our opinion Jacob 
wept because he had not kissed Rachel before, and 
he regretted the time he had lost." 

Another elder says: " Jacob wept with affright 
at the loud report of the tremendous smack he gave 
her." 

I shall not attempt to describe the comments of 
all the Salisburian sages on this interesting subject, 
though it is but fair that I should state some of them. 
And Uncle John thinks Jacob was in that state of 
quandary, doubt, perplexity, uncertainty, delirium, 
between exultation and apprehension and fear, which 
few but those in Jacob's situation can realize^ — joy at 
having snatched the kiss, and dread that Uncle Laban 
might arrest further proceedings and lay an injunc- 
tion against future operations. This dread predom- 
inating, Uncle John asserts, occasioned the flood- 
gates of sorrow to protrude from the eyelids of Jacob. 
But methinks I hear you say: " Why should not 

133 



honest Jacob kiss the fair Rachel of his heart with- 
out having all this fuss made about it? Why should 
he not be permitted to imprint the story of his love 
without handing the circumstance down to poster- 
ity?" 

But, ah! my friend, there is a spirit in human 
nature that would not suffer the guileless act to pass 
unnoticed without impressing on the mind of future 
generations the example of the patriarch. It is a 
plain, unvarnished tale, and we are pleased to find it 
recorded in Holy Writ, in the highest style of Oriental 
language and in terms of soul-thrilling simplicity, 
the fact that Jacob kissed Rachel, and I am pleased 
to proclaim it to this kiss- loving auditory. And we 
find the example set us by Jacob on this occasion 
has been most religiously followed by people in all 
ages of the world since his time, for go where you 
will — to the vine-covered moimtains of France, the 
luxuriant plains of Italy, the turf bogs of dear Erin, 
the pestilential swamps of Walchern, the beautiful 
prairies of America, the alluring mines of Golconda, 
the Eldorado of California, the Rocky Mountains of 
Oregon, or the black summits of Scarrymuch — and 
we find the fondest token of affection is a kiss — as 
the French call it, ''a hasier.^^ So, 

"Whilst we dweU on the lips of the lovely and pure, 
Not a pleasure in nature is missing. 
May his memory be blest, he deserves it, I'm sure, 

Who was first the inventor of kissing. 
Father Adam, I verily think, was the man 
Whose discovery ne'er can be surpassed ; 

134 



Then, sinco the sweet science with Adam began, 
To the end of the world may it last.'' 

>:< * >{< 
Secondly, the true sense of the same text. The 
immutable law of metaphor clearly unfolds it, and 
we find according to its principles Jacob represents 
the Lord's natural principle of good, and- Rachel sig- 
nifies the affection of interior truth. The '^well'' 
spoken of signifies the Word of God, as usual. The 
stone upon its mouth signifies the obstructions en- 
countered in receiving its truth. The flock repre- 
sents the church, and Rachel, who fed the flock, was 
a shepherdess, or one that feedeth. To show that a 
shepherdess or shepherd is one that feedeth, we re- 
fer to St. John's gospel, 21st chapter, 15th to 18th 
verses, as follows: — 

15 . . . Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lo vest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, 
Yea, Lord; thou know est that I love thee. He saith unto 
him, Feed my lambs. 

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son 
of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord; 
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed 
my sheep. 

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said 
uuto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto 
him. Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I 
love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 

'^And Jacob came near and rolled away the stone 
from the well's mouth " signifies that the Lord, from 
His natural principle of good, represented by Jacob, 

135 



has opened the Word as to its interior contents or 
truths. " Watering the flock of Laban, his mother's 
brother," signifies instruction, as the metaphorical 
meaning of eating and drinking is to believe, to ap- 
propriate, to receive instruction. "And Jacob kissed 
Rachel" signifies love toward interior truth, repre- 
sented by Rachel; "and lifted up his voice, and 
wept" signifies the ardor of that love, for weeping 
has relation both to sorrow and love, and denotes the 
highest degree of each. Hence we frequently weep 
for joy but more frequently from sorrow. 

Having these metaphors thus clearly explained, 
the internal sense or hidden meaning most clearly 
appears without further explanation, and shows the 
utter impossibility of getting the least idea of the 
true meaning of this scripture without a thorough 
knowledge of this beautiful language. The close 
observer will notice that Jacob represented himself 
as the brother of Laban and also as the son of his 
sister Rebekah. This apparent inconsistency is only 
explained by beautiful metaphor. 

If these examples shall stimulate all Bible stu- 
dents to examine carefully this philosophy of the 
language of the Bible, we shall feel that our efforts 
in this direction have not been in vain. 



136 



LECTURE VIIL— THE PLAGUES OF 

EGYPT. 

Dear Friends:— 

We read in Matt. 17:25-27 as follows:— 

25 . . . Jesus saith, Of whom do the kings of the 
earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of 
strangers? 

26 Peter saitli unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith 
unto him, Then are the children free. 

27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go 
thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the flsh that 
first cometh up ; and when thou hast opened his mouth, 
thou Shalt find a piece of money : that take, and give unto 
them for me and thee. 

That piece of money found in that fish's mouth 
is perhaps one of the biggest stumbling blocks which 
the teachers of the literal sense of the Bible have to 
encounter. Nothing but the immutable law of met- 
aphor can unfold the religious instruction contained 
in this apparent miracle. We know the highest 
affections and thoughts of man which connect him 
with God and heaven are called spiritual, while the 
lower affections which connect him with the earth 
are called natural. In every well-regulated mind the 
higher affections and thoughts provide comforts and 
pleasures for the lower, while those in return pa}^ 
tribute to and serve the higher. To instruct us, 

137 



therefore, in this universal law it was provided that 
neither the Lord nor Peter should pay the tnhute, 
but a jish^ by which is signified living, scientific 
knowledge in the natural mind. Peter was the apos- 
tle first called. He was a fishernjan, and by follow- 
ing the Lord w^as to be made a fisher of men. Lie 
was not a doubter, but a behever in the truths of 
Revelation, that principle of faith being the roek upon 
which the Lord would build His church. Hence to 
Peter, as the living representative of this principle of 
faith, was given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
To understand this scripture clearly it is only neces- 
sary to show that the sea here mentioned represents 
divine truth, and in this mighty deep is contained 
all the principles of scientific truth. 

Fishes, metaphorically, represent science, and nil 
the stories of fishes in the Bible — and they are many 
— are clearly understood by this key. Revelation 5:13 
says: "I heard every creature that was in the sea 
praising God and saying, " Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne and unto the Lamb forever.' " All the sci- 
ences which describe the wisdom of God, as shown 
in the harmonies of nature in all its wx)nder-working 
combinations, are in scripture language signified by 
the fishes of the sea. What is this but proving the 
truth of what St. John, the Revclator, asserts — that 
he heard the fishes of the sea giving praise to God 
and saying: '^Blessing, and honor, and glory, be 
unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the 
Lamb forever and ever." 

138 



Thus we find the science of astronomy, mathe- 
matics, chemistry, phrenology, geology, botany, and 
every true science, demonstrates the existence of their 
Lord and Master and pays the tribute. Even now 
people who go to this vast sea of scientific truth find 
money. Jay Gould went to this sea, and the first 
fish that came up to him was the science of mathe- 
matics. He opened the mouth of that fish; i. 6., he 
studiec^ that science, and found large money — many 
millions. I have shown you also that John D. 
Eockefeller found large money in the same fish's 
mouth. So I may say all who open the mouth of 
that fish, and study that science, find money. 

I see Mr. Talmage in one of his printed sermons 
says: " The Saviour when on earth was very poor. 
He had no money, and in order to pay his personal 
tax performed a miracle and made a fish pa}^ it." I 
was sorry to know that such a monstrous falsehood 
was proclaimed from the sacred desk under the solem- 
nity of preaching by so great a light as Talmage. It 
shows the terrible swamps and quagmires into wdiich 
the literal sense of the Bible leads its votaries. Truly, 
^' the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2d 
Cor. 3:5.) You see, therefore, this metaphor is not 
only profound but very beautiful. 

Another instance of the folly of teaching the lit- 
eral sense of the Bible only is found in the commen- 
taries of Dr. Adam Clarke, in which he coolly and 
deliberately informs us that the serpent which be- 
guiled our beautiful Mother Eve in the Garden of 
Eden must have been an ourang-outang. All who 

139 



know the hideous appearance of that monster will 
see that the person who advances such an idea brands 
himself an idiot. It reflects largel}^ upon the intelli- 
gence and refinement of our beautiful Mother Eve. 

Such preaching is an insult to the spirit of our in- 
stitutions. The literal sense of the Bible is the foster 
mother of hysteria and inaction and is also the stock- 
in-trade of the Christian Scientist or Faith Curist. It 
points to a union of Church and State. Its rumbling 
is already heard like the far-off thunder of the com- 
ing storm, and it portends danger. 

But man is becoming too intelligent to be super- 
stitious, and as a consequence we see creeds are being 
analyzed and thrown aside and men are becoming 
more truly religious while breaking away in every 
direction from the narrow walls of sectarianism. 
Creed and dogma have lost power over him, and the 
end of the Nineteenth Century is witnessing a mighty 
revival of spiritual growth and faith in those things 
most real in life. The mighty energies and won- 
drous attributes of the Omnipotent are just begin- 
ning, as it were, to be revealed to us. Man is being 
refined and unfolded, and is becoming more and more 
capable of comprehending the great realities of his 
own existence and of the nature and perfections of 
God. No more can the raging tempest frighten him 
into the paying of homage to some supposed angry 
Deity, nor the rolling thunder cause him to tremble 
and call upon him with its hoarse mutterings to burn 
the innocent lamb for a sacrifice to appease the wrath 
of his God. The deep moan and shrill wail of the 

140 



storm-heaving sea shall no more drive the free-born 
soul into the worship of unknown gods — the unseen 
dispensers of avenging power. Neither shall he any 
more bow down before unholy altars when the long- 
slumbering volcano shall belch forth in tones of 
thunder its burning tide. But man shall learn to 
calm the tempest. Already he makes the winds Avaft 
his ships to foreign shores. He shall command the 
ocean, for even now be calmly rides upon its waves 
in palaces. He shall control the lightnings, for, be- 
hold! how they convey his thoughts from nation to 
nation and from shore to shore. Truly, man has 
attained to a high eminence, and while unseen forces 
are manifesting their power in our midst, the intelli- 
gent and pure-minded individual of this era remains 
wholl}^ unmoved by superstitious awe and false ado- 
ration. A higher conception of what true religion is 
has taken the place of the false dogmas Avhich have 
cramped and contracted his powers and rendered his 
very existence a hideous nightmare, full of terror 
and shadowed by fear of consequences which his be- 
lief makes real to him. 

In regard to the East wind, of which so much is 
said in the Bible, it is only necessary to show you 
that East wind, metaphoi'ically, means vanity, con- 
ceit, boasting, self-importance. A person possessing 
tliese qualities in large amount was said to be filled 
with East w^ind. Hence Isa. 2:6 says: "Thou hast 
forsaken the house of Jacob, because they be replen- 
ished from the East," (i. 6., they be filled with East 
wind) "and are soothsayers " (/. e., fortune-tellers, 

141 



pretenders), 'Mike the Philistines," pretending to 
have knowledge of future events. 

Also Job 15:2 says: "Should a wise man utter 
vain knowledge, and till his belly with the East 
wind?" 

Also Job 0:5 says: ''Doth the wild ass bray 
when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fod- 
der?" Hence we see the vanity of endeavoring to 
feed upon the wind. I am sorry to say that cler- 
gymen of to-day are the windiest class of mortals on 
earth. They pretend to know it all. You can not 
tell them anything. They are so puffed up with 
wind they can scarcely breathe. 

Now, my purpose and object in standing here be- 
fore you evening after evening and explaining these 
sjreat truths is to prick these o-entlemen and let this 
wind out of them, and if I succeed I doubt not they 
will breathe easier. Infidels, too, are troubled Avith 
East wind. I fear many of their writings show evi- 
dences of this wind. 

We find also God said to Pharaoh, " Except ye 
let my people go, I will smite all thy borders with 
frogs, and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, 
which shall go up and come into thy house, and into 
th}^ bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into thine 
ovens, and into thy kneading troughs." 

Now we find this beautiful village of Van Etten- 
ville is to-day completely covered with these frogs. 
They are in our houses, in our bed-chambers and in 
our beds, in our ovens and in our kneading troughs, 
and are on all our people. Now in order to shoAv 

142 



why this is so it is only necessary to understand that 
a frog in scripture parlance simply means a false 
reasoner, a croaker. Hence all ministers who pre- 
tend to teach God's word without a full understand- 
ing of its internal or metaphorical sense are called 
frogs or croakers, and the reason they are so called 
is because there is no more sense in their teaching 
tlian there is in the croaking of frogs, and the reason 
there is no sense in it is because they do not know 
the true sense of the Bible. They do not know the 
true meaning of a word that is in it. It is perhaps 
what the inspired apostle referred to when he spoke 
so eloquently of the ''foolishness of preaching." 

Hence we find these false doctrines are preached 
or croaked from every pulpit and rostrum in the 
land. Infidels, too, are croaking their false doctrines 
along our highways and byways, on our street cor- 
ners and from every point from which an audience 
can be obtained. So when these croakers are all got 
together we find our fair village is completely covered 
with these frogs or croakers, just as the land of Egypt 
was in the daj^s of Pharaoh. 

Now we find also, according to the teaching of 
Moses, these frogs died out of their houses, and out 
of their villages, and out of their fields, and they 
gathered them together upon heaps, and the land 
stank. So we find the doctrines preached or croaked 
by these frogs to-day are a stench in the nostrils of 
all educated people. It seems we have endured them 
long enough, and should say as a friend said to me 
lately: — 

143 



"Rise ! let us frown, 
And put these ranting croakers do\^n." 

But with all deference and lespect to clergymen, I 
think the time will soon come when they will find 
their true mission on earth, which is to be teachers 
and educators of the people from a scientific stand- 
point. 

We find also the Egyptians were afflicted with a 
plague of lice. Now a louse, metaphorically, repre- 
sents an evil which is deli^'htful. 

St. Paul says in his epistle to Timothy: '^ In the 
last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be 
lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- 
phemous, unholy, without natural affection; having 
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. 
From such turn away. Of that sort are they which 
creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden 
with sin and divers lusts." 

Now, dear friends, every individual who is doing 
that kind of business is, in scripture parlance, a 
louse, and he's a badlouse^ too; and we find from a 
careful reading of the scriptures this kind of lice were 
so plentiful in the land of Egypt in the days of Pha- 
raoh the people actually thought the very dust of the 
earth had turned to lice. Now we hear of these 
Egyptian lice in our day. The fact is we have al- 
ways had them and I fear we always Avill, and I 
know of no remedy for them. I think the only thing 
we can do is to let them grow up together, the wicked 
with the righteous — the tares with the wheat — until 
the harvest. Then these tares, these lice, ''will be 

144 



iratlioi'od togetlier into bundles and burned.'' But 
tbe most terrible plague that afflicted the land of 
Egypt in those days was turning their water into 
blood. The water upon their streams, upon their 
rivers, upon their ponds and upon their pools, be- 
came blood, and there was blood throughout all the 
land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and vessels of 
stone, and the fish in the river died. 

Now tliat is the ti'ouble here in Van Ettenville to- 
day. All our water is turned to blood. There is not 
a drop of pure water in our whole village, but there 
is blood throughout our town. Now as a specimen 
of this blood which is poured out for us to drink, 
from our pulpits and sources of spiritual instruction 
to-day, I note the following: We are told the Al- 
mighty came down here one day and made a man of 
the dust of the earth, breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, })laced him on his feet and set him run- 
ning, and man l)ecame a living soul, and that is the 
way this earth became inhabited. He then cut a rib 
from his side and of it formed a woman, to be a com- 
panion for the man. Then there w^ere two of them. 
He directed them to be fruitful, multiply, and re- 
plenish the earth, and when very numerous he got 
mad at them for being just as he had made them, 
and sent a flood of water five miles deep over the 
earth to drown the people he had made. Now when 
tliey })Our out such bloody trasb as that for you to 
drink, don't you swallow or l)elieve one bit of it. 
Remember, to eat, to drink or swallow, in scripture 
means to believe, to appropriate. 80 don't swallow 

145 



or believe any such trash. If you do, it will make 
you sick at the stomach. 

I read a short time ago of a distant cannibal 
island where the people had so degraded their appe- 
tites they had come to consider rotten eggs the great- 
est delicacy. They would eat a meal and then suck 
the delicious contents of a rotten egg as a dessert. I 
think any person wdio can swallow^ such trash as I 
have stated without being sick at the stomach must 
have taken lessons in trying to learn to love rotten 
eggs. 

I will liere state, however, the metaphorical mean- 
ing of all these apparent anomalies, this account of the 
creation, this rib story, etc., is not only true but very 
beautiful. No w^onder the fish died in that river of 
blood. I have shown you that fishes mean science, 
and science must have died under the .teaching of 
such profound ignorance. I have shown you on a 
former occasion that turning water into wine means 
clianging natural truth into divine truth. I now 
show you that turning water into blood means turn- 
ing truth into falsehood, the falsification of truth. 

Now while I offer no remedy for these Egyptian 
lice, I have a remedy for this bloody water, and the 
remedy which I propose is to enlarge our school- 
house and send everybody to school, and there teach 
them scientific and spiritual truth; carefully see that 
no errors creep in. In that way I think the fountain 
head of our water supply can be pin'ified, and like 
the w^oman of Samaria, we could ever drink from the 
perennial fountain of truth — the ''well of Jacol)" — 

14() 



which is pure as the water of the river of life. To 
show you that to eat, to drink or to swallow, means 
to believe, to appropriate, to receive instruction, I 
note the following: 

The Saviour says: ^' Except ye eat My flesh and 
drink My blood ye have no life in you," life mean- 
ing intelligence. He represented His doctrine as His 
substance. His flesh and His blood. Hence to eat 
His flesh and drink His blood simply means to be- 
lieve His doctrine, to drink in His intelligence. The 
inconsistencies of the literal sense of the Bible are so 
great many intelligent ministers to-day do not pre- 
tend to preach it at all. They take a text from the 
Bible and apply it to scientific subjects which they 
understand, and in this way preach very creditable 
sermons. This action on their part is very commend- 
able. If they do not understand the true sense of the 
Bible they certainly should not attempt to preach it. 

Again we read in 2 Kings 2 :23, as Elisha went 
up from thence into Bethel, as he passed by the 
way, little children came out and mocked him, and 
said, '^Go up, thou bald head." And he turned 
and cursed them in the name of the Lord, and there 
came forth two she bears out of the wood and tare 
forty and two of them. Now it seems horrid that so 
many little children should meet so awful a death 
for so trifling an offense. It seems the punishment 
was not proportionate to the crime. That this whole 
account is metaphorical is shown by the true mean- 
ing of the word " bear." 

In scripture parlance a bear signifies a person who 

147 



reads the Bible and does not understand its true 
meaning. We find, according to this definition, this 
is a wonderful country for bears, for almost every 
person reads the Bible, but not one in ten thousand 
knowns anything of its true meaning; hence almost 
every person we meet is a bear. We find, too, the 
teaching of these bears from the holy pulpit is to- 
day destroying more children than all the bears which 
existed in the days of Elisha. 

What spectacle do we now behold in our churches 
every Sabbath day? We see a bear standing in the 
holy pulpit and with his carnal claws leafing over 
God's Word. Verily, verily, I say unto you unclean 
beasts are in our temples and filthy reptiles inhabit the 
sanctuary of our God. 

It seems a little strange that just forty-two chil- 
dren were destroyed on that occasion; but we find 
the number seven in scripture is considered almost 
holy. Thus the Lord rested on the seventh day. 
Pharaoh saw seven fat and seven lean kine, seven 
fine ears and seven blasted ears of corn. The unclean 
spirit took with him seven other spirits more wicked 
than himself. The seven stars, seven churches, seven 
golden candlesticks, seventy times seven times should 
we forgive our erring brother, and I see by my Con- 
cordance I can refer to more than one hundred other 
places where this number seven is referred to in scrip- 
ture and we find this number 42 contains six of 
those beautiful sevens — 6x7 = 42. So we believe 
the whole account is metaphorical. Tt has a mean- 
ing beautifully figurative. 

148 



T hope you never scare children with tliese terri- 
ble bear stories. Although I think it should be made 
criminal to whip children under any circumstances, 
I think it far better to whip them a dozen times than 
frighten them once, so many incurable diseases are 
caused b}^ fright. Suppose a child should languish 
and die after one of those frights or brutal whip- 
pings. We w^ould thereby find ourselves intimately 
connected with eternity, and in a way, too, very un- 
desirable. We see, therefore, the educated meta- 
phorical sense of the Bible is very beautiful, and we 
would naturally suppose ministers of the gospel 
would be pleased to know there is a true scientific 
way of interpreting the Bible which avoids its incon- 
sistencies; but we find they are the very ones that 
most bitterly oppose it. We read in Psalms, the 
little hills rejoice together and the floods clap their 
hands. The mountains skip like rams and the little 
hills like lambs. How strange it would seem if we 
should awake some fine morning and see the mount- 
ains and little hills skipping al)out like rams and 
lambs. Plain common- sense ought to teach them 
that this scripture is metaphorical and highly figura- 
tive. 

I am pleased to be able to demonstrate to you 
this metaphorical sense of the Bible. You will re- 
member in my first lecture of this course I explained 
to you the beauties of phrenology and showed you 
that a knowledge of that science is very important; 
that such knowledge gives you a clearer insight into 
human nature than you can acquire in any other 

149 



way, and spoke of the brain of the mighty Bismarck 
which raised him from obscurity to the highest posi- 
tion in the government. His rise was rapid — almost 
phenomenal. His N^outh was daring and reckless. 
He set aside every law of health and hygiene, and 
when he fell deeply in love with Miss Putkammer 
and sued for her hand, his suit was rejected by h<'r 
parents, they being very pious; but when he threw 
his whole impassioned soul into the contest he suc- 
ceeded, being ably seconded by the lady herself, she 
being deeply impressed. She loved the dash and 
spirit of Bismarck, so love won, as it always does; 
but they felt they were giving their daughter to a 
reckless adventurer. Thev lived, however, to see 
her raised to the highest pinnacle of fame. She 
proved to be a lady of excellent mind and her influ- 
ence was ever after a wholesome restraint upon the 
reckless career of Bismarck. 

Years after, his wife and beautiful daughter were 
summering at a famous watering-place upon the con- 
tinent. Empress Eugenie of France was there also, 
but the rise of the Bismarcks had been so remark- 
able they received more attention than even the Em- 
press herself, which caused deep jealousy. She said 
nothing, however, but wrote to her friends in Paris 
that Mrs. De Bismarck was there and had the largest 
foot in the Empire, and her daughter walked in her 
footsteps. The French thought that was very funny. 
It was published in their papers and caused much 
merriment; but w^hen it came to the notice of Bis- 
marck his indignation knew no bounds. But, like 

150 



the wise man he was, he said nothing but "inly'^ 
swore he would have revenge on that French nation. 
He accordingly consulted King William and General 
Von Moltke, the commander-in-chief of their army. 
What those gentlemen could not accomplish the next 
trio needn't attempt. 

In that conference he demonstrated to them that 
the eartli did not rest more securely upon the shoul- 
ders of Atlas than the Prussian state on her Generals. 
Von Moltke was in his glory. He saw the prospect 
of a great war and the opportunity of displaying his 
generalship. The result of the conference w\as their 
army was increased and quietly put upon a fighting 
basis. When all was ready a cause for hostilities 
against France was found and war declared — the 
most bloody war of which we have any record — and 
was so rapid and successful, under the scientific gen- ^ 
eralship of Von Moltke, the French had no time to 
prepare or recuperate. The German army waded 
through blood and very soon completely invested the 
French Capital. They theti said to France, ''Make 
terms, * ' or we will destroy your Capital and wipe your 
nation from the face of the earth. The French said 
they would submit to anything but the dismember- 
ment of territory. King William and Bismarck said, ' 
''You shall submit to that." 

Accordingly the provinces of Metz and Alsace- 
Lorraine were taken from France and ceded to Ger- 
many, to increase the glory of that rising nation, and 
the enormous war indemnity of $1,000,000,000 agreed 
upon, which was afterward paid in gold. For this 

151 



service Bismarck received from King William the 
valuable and princely estate upon the banks of the 
river Rhine, comprising twenty thousand acres and 
said to be one of the finest private properties in trie 
world. He was also Chancellor of the German Em- 
pire during the reign of King William and was called 
the Iron Chancellor. 

This bit of history may be conjecture, but I firmly 
believe the insult and ridicule put upon the loved 
wife and witty daughter of Bismarck had more to do 
with the terrible Franco-Prussian war than all other 
causes combined. Empress Eugenie was driven from 
Paris, went to London and set up dress-making on a 
large scale, and if she fully realizes the cause of her 
terrible downfall she probably hasn't accused any 
one since that time of the terrible crime of having big 
feet. I quote these facts merely to show the power 
of a mighty brain when operating for purposes of re- 
venge — that sweetest morsel that man ever rolled 
under his tongue. 

I find by examining the principles of phrenology 
the portion of the brain devoted to metaphor, and 
which appreciates metaphor, is located in the upper 
frontal portion of the brain — the highest position of 
the brain. It is also the highest faculty of the hu- 
man mind. It constitutes a portion of our reasoning 
powers. It was very large in the Saviour and in all 
writers of the Bible. Parables and analogical reason- 
ing are the product of this faculty. When large, it 
gives its possessor a high, intelligent forehead. 
This portion of the brain is largely developed in all 
persons who appreciate metaphor. 

152 



Metaphysicians divide our reasoning powers into 
two classes — logical and analogical. Lord Bacon 
almost revolutionized the literature of the world by 
the introduction of his analogical, analytical or Ba- 
conian system of reasoning, which became universal, 
was introduced into our schools, and is still retained, 
especially in our arithmetical departments. So we 
have analytical arithmetic as well as synthetic, the 
analytical being deemed far superior, especially in 
illustration. Those who have this portion of the 
brain largely developed readily appreciate the beau- 
tiful metaphors of the Bible and intuitively detect 
improprieties in the use of words. 

It will also be seen that this metaphorical sense 
of the Bible clearly explains all its miracles without 
the intervention of any supernatural agency. This, 
we believe, is a great argument in its favor. It is 
evident to every enlightened person that no real mir- 
acle has ever been performed upon this earth. We 
are told by the most highly educated authorities that 
the word in the original language, translated, '' mir- 
acle'' simply means a power or a sign. But the 
translators believed in miracles, consequently this 
word was erroneously translated ''miracle," and for 
this reason only is this word "miracle" found in 
our translation of the Holy Scriptures. 

All systems of theology, therefore, based upon 
miracles, or which allow the performance of mira- 
cles, are erroneous. I am pleased to be able to state 
that, according to the metaphorical sense of the 
scriptures, all its so-called miracles are clearly ex- 

153 



plaiiiable witlioiit the intervention of any supernat- 
ural agency. 

And now, dear friends, hoping that you may evei- 
have clear views of the beautiful nu^taphorical sense 
of the Bible; that you may dig in this field until 
you unearth this hidden treasure; that you may 
wash in the pool of Siloam until your eyes are 
opened; that you may be able to discern spiritual 
things, to draw the line between literal and meta- 
phorical language, and probe these metaphors to the 
bottom, I bid you an affectionate farewell. 



154 



METAPHORICAL GLOSSARY. 

METAPHOR — A compressed simile; a short simili- 
tude; a figure of speech founded upon the 
likeness, analogy or resemblance which one 
thing bears to another. 

WATER— Natural truth. 

WINE— Divine truth. 

A LION— The power of truth. 

GARMENT or CLOTHING — The doctrine which 
we believe. 

WEDDING GARMENT— The true doctrine. 

FLOOD— Wickedness. 

ARK — Emblem of salvation. 

GARDEN — A cultivated spot; a mind regenerate 
before the Lord. 

EDEN — Innocence. 

FIG LEAVES — Deception; excuses; idle pretenses. 

SP]RPENT — The Devil; our evil nature; eloquence; 
deceit; sophistry; subtelty; shrewdness; nrien- 
tal magnetism; charming; fascination; the 
cunning and prudence of the sensual man; 
circumspection. 

STONES— Truths. 

EATING, DRINKING, and SWALLOWING— To 
believe; to appropriate; to receive instruc- 
tion. 

155 



FAMINE— Deartli of spiritual food. 

ADULTERY— Infidelity; mixing God's truth with 
falsehood. 

RAIN — A shower of temptations. 

WILDERNESS— A state of temptations. 

DEATH— Ignoranee. 

LIFE— Intelligenee. 

RESURRECTION— The passage from the death of 
ignorance to the glorious life of intelligence. 

COLDNESS— Hatred. 

WARMTH— Friendship. 

FIRE— Love. 

HELL — The burning passions of the wacked. 

BEAR — A person wdio reads the Bible but does not 
understand its true meaning. 

FISHES— Scientifics. 

SWINE — The lowest oi'der of human beings; an 
animal that never looks up, has nothing ele- 
vating in its nature; its nose is its principal 
part, always foremost, generally under the 
mud; almost always in sr)mebody else's busi- 
ness, and when it falls ahvays strikes on its 
precious nose. 

FROGS — False reasoners; croakers. 

LICE — Evils which are delightful. 

WATER TURNED TO WINE — Natural truth 
turned to Divine truth. 

WATER TURNED TO BLOOD— Truth turned to 
falsehood; falsification of truth. 

POOL OF SILO AM- The Bible. 

WASH — To cleanse; to study; to investigate. 

156 



LIGHT — The wisdom and intelligence of angels and 
men. 

DARKNESS — Falsities arising from ignorance. 

NIGHT — Utter ignorance. 

DAY — Light of intelligence; spiritual truth. 

EAST WIND — Vanity; conceit; boasting; self- 
importance; means of destruction. 

MARRIAGE — Conjunction of good and truth. 

INSPIRATION— Breathing Divine truth. 

MOUNTAINS— The highest affections of the human 
soul; the highest things of the Church. 

A^A^LLEYS— The lowest things of the Church. 

CLOUDS— Ignorance; the letter of the Word. 

GOLDEN CALF— The pleasure of the flesh. 

HOUSE -The mind of man. 

END OF THE WORLD — The consummation of 
the age; the end of the Jewish dispensation. 

CLOSET — The inmost recesses of the human heart. 

STAFF, HAND and FINGER— Power. 



^i5^ ti^ ^^tf 



15 



INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Portrait of the Author Frontispiece 

Preface iv-vii 

Lecture l. — "E(kication." ...... 8- 35 

Lecture 2. — '' Changing Water Into Wine." 36- 59 
Lecture 3. — ' 'Noah's Flood.'" .... 60- 76 

Lecture 4. — " Tlie Resurrection." . . . 77-92 
Lecture 5. — "The End of the World." . . 93-108 
Lecture 6. — ''A Burning Hell." . . . 109-130 
Lecture 7. — ''An Illustration of the Meta- 
phorical Sense of the Bible." 131-136 
Lecture 8. — " The Plagues of Egypt." . 137-154 
Metaphorical Glossary ....... 155-157 



158 



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